I 


wvSaw 


91 


ftatga«t  fplgtlie, 


f?4. 


LI    RARY 

STA-T  TEACMER'SC^L'EGE 
SA..TA  BARBARA.  CALIF'-RNIA 


Z§t  (prime  QUinider*  of 
Quun  (Victoria 


EDITED    BY 

STUART     J.     RE  ID 


LORD    MELBOURNE 


UNIFORM     WITH     THIS     VOLUME. 


THE  QUEEN'S  PRIME  MINISTERS, 

A  SERIES  OF  POLITICAL  BIOGRAPHIES. 

EDITED    BY 

STUAET      vJ.     REID, 

AITHOR    OF     'THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF    SYDNEY    SMITH.' 


The  Vohunti  will  eon  fain  Portraits,  and  will  be  published  at 

periodical  intervals. 

THE  EARL  OF  BEACONSFIELD,  K.G.    By  T.  A.  Froude, 
D.C.L. 

VISCOUNT  MELBOURNE.    By  Henry  Dunckley,  LL.I). 

(' Verax.'j 

SIR  ROBERT  PEEL.     By  Justin  McCarthy,  M.P. 

VISCOUNT  PALMERSTON.     By  the  Marquis  of  Lorne, 

K.T. 

THE    RIGHT    HON.    W.    E.    GLADSTONE,    M.P.      By 
G.  W.  E.  Russell. 

EARL  RUSSELL.     By  Stuart  J.  Reid. 

THE  EARL  OF  ABERDEEN.     By  Sir  Arthur  Gordox, 
G.C.M.G.  &c. 

THE  EARL  OF  DERBY.     By  George  Saintsbury. 

THE   MARQUIS    OF    SALISBURY.     By  H.  D.  Traill, 
D.C.L. 

NEW   YORK 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  Franklin  Square. 


■  ■ 


LORD     MELBOURNE 


BY 


HENRY    DUNCKLEY,   M.A.,    LL.D. 


NEW   YORK 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    FRANKLIN    SQUARE 

1890 


PRINTED     BV 
SP0TT1SW0ODE    AND    CO..     NEW-STREET    SQUARE 


The  latest  and  most  authentic  materials  for  a  biography  of 
Lord  Melbourne  are  to  be  found  in  '  Lord  Melbourne's 
Papers,  edited  by  Lloyd  C.  Sanders,  with  a  preface  by  the 
Earl  Cowper,  K.G.'  (Longmans,  Green,  and  Co.,  1889.) 
The  volume  was  not  published  till  after  the  following 
Memoir  was  begun,  but  it  has  been  of  great  assistance 
to  the  author.  His  acknowledgments  are  also  due  to 
Mr.  W.  M.  Torrens,  whose  '  Memoirs  of  Lord  Melbourne,' 
in  two  volumes  (Macmillan  and  Co.,  1878),  furnish  some 
information  gathered  from  personal  sources  which  is  not 
to  be  found  elsewhere.  Sir  Denis  Le  Marchant's  '  Memoir 
of  Lord  Althorp,'  Lord  Dalling's  '  Life  of  Lord  Palmerston,' 
and  Mr.  Spencer  Walpole's  '  Life  of  Lord  John  Russell,' 
throw  interesting  side-lights  on  Lord  Melbourne's  career. 
The  '  Greville  Memoirs '  it  is  almost  needless  to  mention. 
'  The  Manuscripts  of  the  Earl  Cowper,  K.G.,  preserved  at 
Melbourne  Hall,'  and  published  by  the  Historical  Manu- 
scripts Commission  (1888),  supply  ample  notices  of  the 
Coke  family.  The  author's  thanks  are  due  to  F.  J.  Head- 
lam,  Esq.,  who,  as  an  old  Etonian,  kindly  inquired  of  the 
Provost  of  Eton  for  any  record  or  tradition  of  Lord  Mel- 
bourne's schooldays,  and  to  Professor  Jack,  for  similar 
inquiries  made  by  him  at  Glasgow  University. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    I 

A    NEW    PATRICIAN    HOUSE 

Melbourne  ancestry— Melbourne  Hall — Sir  Juhn  Coke,  Secre- 
tary of  State  and  political  scapegoat — His  sons — Puritan  ami 
Cavalier — A  glimpse  of  Richard  Baxter — Thomas  Coke,  Vice- 
Chamberlain  and  Court  exquisite — Swift  to  Stella — The  Lambs 
of  Southwell  —  Sir  Matthew  Lamb  and  Charlotte  Coke — The 
Church  and  Lincoln's  Inn — The  blending  of  two  patrimonies — 
Joint  result  —  Sir  Peniston  Lamb,  first  Viscount  Melbourne 


I'ACE 


CHAPTER    II 

EARLY    YEARS    AND    EDUCATION 

The  Melbourne  household — Sir  Peniston  in  Parliament — The 
ambitions  of  a  great  lady — An  Irish  peerage— With  princes  of 
the  blood— Another  Vice-Chamberlain  in  the  family — The 
company  at  Melbourne  House — William  Lamb  at  Eton  and 
Cambridge — A  first  flight  in  declamation — To  be  quoted  by 
Fox— Law  and  philosophy  at  Glasgow — Home  correspondence 
—  Glasgow  manners — The  Miss  Millars— Robert  Hall's  ser- 
mon     Lamb  does  not  like  the  Di  renters        ....     12 


Vlll  LORD    .MELBOURNE 

CHAPTER    III 

WAITING    FOR    THE    TIDE 

PACK 

Education  finished;  what  next? — Some  disadvantages  on  setting 
out  —Sauntering—Decides  for  the  law — Is  called  to  the  bar 
with  his  future  Lord  Chancellor — Lamb  and  Pepys — Goes  on 
circuit — Actually  gets  a  brief— A  twofold  crisis — Falls  in  love 
—Becomes  an  eldest  son — A  courtship  not  without  sinister 
auguries — A  double  marriage  and  some  maternal  dreams  ful- 
filled     ss 


CHAPTER    IV 

POLITICAL    LAND-SURVEYING 

\\  iliiam  Lamb  in  Parliament —The  men  he  found  there — Pitt  and 
Fox — Family  connections — Lord  Althorp — William  Huskisson 
— Quick  fate  of  '  All  the  Talents  ' — Lamb  moves  the  Address — 
A  Constitutional  question  raised — Lamb  stands  by  the  Consti- 
tution— Veers  towards  administrative  Radicalism — The  Duke 
of  York  scandal — The  Regency  —The  '  rising  sun  '  will  surely 
shine  upon  us — Not  at  all  :  has  no  predilections — Lamb  loses 
his  seat  and  is  adrift       ........     49 


CHAPTER   V 

TROUBLES   AT    HOME 

La<iy  Caroline  Lamb— Sinister  auguries  fulfilling  themselves — Ad- 
vent of  Lord  Byron  and  '  Childe  Harold  '—The  flirtations  of 
Lady  Caroline,  serio-comic  verging  upon  tragedy— William 
Lamb's  conjugal  ruminations— Marriage  of  Lord  Byron  and 
its  results  at  Brocket — Waywardness  or  madness  ? — A  separa- 
tion planned  and  frustrated— The  future  Lord  Lytton  a  sacri- 
ficial victim  —Separation  at  last— A  '  psalm  of  life '  .  70 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER    VI 
A    FOLLOWER    OF    MR.    CANNING 

PAGE 

Again  in  Parliament — Influence  of  Huskisson — The  charm  of  Can- 
ning—Lamb a  Convert,  but  does  not  leave  his  party  and  some- 
times votes  with  it — Votes  for  a  committee  of  inquiry  into  the 
public  expenditure  —Speaks  in  favour  of  a  reduction  of  expendi- 
ture— Votes  for  the  suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus  and  for  the 
Six  Acts—  Opposed  to  Parliamentary  Reform — The  Catholic 
Association — Queen  Caroline — Impecuniosity — A  philosophy 
of  credit — Proclaimed  a  political  renegade,  and  'out'  once 
more     ...........     88 

CHAPTER    VII 
CHIEF    SECRETARY    FOR    IRELAND 

Sudden  turn  of  the  political  kaleidoscope — Canning  in  power — 
The  Whig  party  rent  asunder — Lamb  Chief  Secretary  for  Ire- 
land, and  a  seat  found  for  him — Leaves  for  Ireland—  Death  of 
Canning — Lamb's  Irish  achievements  and  experiences — Retains 
office  under  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  pays  dearly  for  it— 
The  Whigs  cleared  out — Huskisson's  resignation  and  its  con- 
sequences— Lamb  secedes  with  the  rest  of  the  Canningites — 
Death  of  Viscount  Melbourne         .         .         .         .         .         .112 

CHAPTER    VIII 
AT   THE    HOME   OFFICE 

Lamb,  now  Viscount  Melbourne,  in  the  House  of  Lords  — Catholic 
Emancipation— Death  of  George  IV.  — The  Administration  on 
the  shoals — A  revolution  in  Paris,  and  a  threatened  one  at 
home— The  Duke  is  afraid  to  visit  the  City  -The  Canningites 
declare  for  Parliamentary  Reform,  and  prepare  to  join  the 
Whigs—  Melbourne  moves  with  them,  but  slowly— Earl  Grey 
in  power— Melbourne  Home  Secretary — The  Reform  Bill- 
Melbourne's  mind  quite  made  up— Work  at  the  Home  Office  - 
Mr.  Thomas  Young  and  Mr.  Francis  Place     .         .         .         •    '35 


X  LORD   MELBOURNE 

CHAPTER    IX 
PREMIER 

PAGE 

Further  work  at  the  Home  Office — State  of  the  Country — Earl 
Grey's  apprehensions — Melbourne  will  have  no  repressive 
measures — The  Dorchester  labourers — Robert  Owen — Irish 
policy  of  the  Government — Growing  dissensions  in  the  Cabinet 
—The  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill  has  severed  the  bond  of 
union — O'Connell  and  the  'Rupert  of  debate '— Proposed 
secularisation  of  Church  property  in  Ireland — •'  Johnny  upsets 
the  coach  ' — Earl  Grey  resigns — Melbourne  accepts  the  pre- 
miership       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  155 

CHAPTER   X 

EGO    ET    REX    MEUS 

I  difficulties  of  office — The  pranks  of  Lord  Brougham — Lord 
Althorp  goes  to  the  House  of  Lords— Melbourne's  letter  to  the 
King — His  interview  with  the  King  at  Brighton — Summarily 
dismissed  and  Sir  Robert  Peel  sent  for— Failure  of  an  uncon- 
stitutional experiment  —  Melbourne  avenged — Premier  again — 
How  he  manages  the  King — Lord  Brougham  disposed  of — 
Mrs.  Norton;  a  second  social  misadventure— Hostility  of  the 
Lords — Lord  John's  '  Finality  ' — Radical  discontent — Death 
of  the  King  .........    177 

CHAPTER   XI 

REGIUS    PROFESSOR 

The  Queen's  accession— Peculiarities  of  the  new  reign— A  youth- 
ful Sovereign — Guidance  and  instruction  needed — Lord  Mel- 
bourne undertakes  the  task — How  he  discharged  it — His  devo- 
tion and  self-denial— Melbourne  and  Baron  Stockmar — The 
Coronation — The '  Court  and  the  Whigs — The  Bedchamber 
squabble  — Chivalry  and  office — Melbourne's  Church  patronage 
—The  Deanery  of  Exeter — Arnold  and  Thirlwall — At  Court 
with  Robert  Owen         ........    202 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER    XII 
HIS    FALL 

PAGE 

Growing  weakness  of  the  Cabinet— Incidents  of  a  protracted  Disso- 
lution— Canada— The  Syrian  question — Palmerston's  autocracy 
in  foreign  affairs — Melbourne  keeps  the  peace — The  Queen's 
Marriage  -His  fatherly  approval — The  troubles  of  the  Minis- 
try thicken— Embarrassed  finance — The  Corn  Laws— Defeat 
on  the  Sugar  Duties— A  general  election— The  majority  of 
ninety-one  — Melbourne  resigns  — His  parting  interview  with 
the  Queen •   222 


CHAPTER    XIII 
BROCKET 

A  speech  at  Melbourne— Brocket  reminiscences— -Augustus  Lamb 
Lord  Egremont — The  picture  in  the  Great  Saloon — Not  left 
in  utter  loneliness — His  interest  in  politics — Again  in  the  House 
of  Lords  —A  Windsor  incident  —  Still  ready  to  go  if  '  sent  for  '— 
His  health  steadily  declining  —Not  included  in  the  Ministerial 
combination  of  1846 — His  last  vote  by  proxy— An  episode  of 
1832— The  end     .........   235 


[NDEX 245 


LORD    MELBOURNE 


CHAPTER   I 

A    NEW   PATRICIAN    HOUSE 

The  Melbourne  ancestry— Melbourne  Hall— Sir  John  Coke,  Secretary 
of  State  and  political  scapegoat — His  sons — Puritan  and  Cavalier— 
A  glimpse  of  Richard  Baxter — Thomas  Coke,  Vice-Chamberlain 
and  Court  exquisite — Swift  to  Stella — The  Lambs  of  Southwell — 
Sir  Matthew  Lamb  and  Charlotte  Coke — The  Church  and  Lincoln's 
Inn— The  blending  of  two  patrimonies — Joint  result — Sir  Peniston 
Lamb,  first  Viscount  Melbourne. 

Lord  Melbourne,  the  first  of  the  Prime  Ministers  of 
Queen  Victoria,  and  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  was  the 
son  of  Peniston,  the  first  Viscount,  by  his  marriage  with 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  Ralph  Milbanke,  of  Halnaby, 
Yorkshire.  He  was  born  at  Melbourne  Hall,  Derbyshire, 
on  March  15,  1779.  His  father  lived  till  1828.  Hence,  to 
avoid  confusion  we  shall  have  at  once  to  drop  the  title  by 
which  he  is  universally  known,  and  to  speak  of  him  for  fifty 
years  of  his  life  as  William  Lamb,  a  name  by  which  he  is 
hardly  known  at  all. 

The  place  cf  his  birth,  from  which  also  the  family  title 
was  derived,  suggests  a  previous  history,  and  it  will  repay  us 
to  take  a  brief  retrospective  glance.     We  are  about  to  see  a 

B 


2  LORD   MELBOURNE 

patrician  house  in  the  making.  It  will  be  interesting  to 
observe  how  the  materials  were  acquired  and  how  the  fabric 
was  gradually  built.  Melbourne  Hall  was  formerly  the 
rectory  house  of  the  parish  church  of  Melbourne,  and  from 
the  reign  of  Henry  II.  had  been  annexed,  together  with  the 
glebe  and  tithe,  to  the  see  of  Carlisle.  In  1628  Sir  John 
Coke  acquired  possession  on  a  lease  for  three  lives,  and  in 
1 710,  by  an  arrangement  with  the  then  bishop,  confirmed 
by  Act  of  Parliament,  the  lease  was  turned  into  freehold. 
Sir  John  Coke  must  be  considered  the  most  distinguished 
member  of  the  Melbourne  ancestry.  He  was  the  second 
son  of  Thomas  Coke,  of  Trusley,  near  Derby,  where  the 
family  had  been  settled  for  four  generations  as  lords  of  the 
manor.  The  eldest  son,  Sir  Francis  Coke,  Knight,  took 
the  patrimonial  estates.  The  third  son,  George,  entered 
the  Church,  becoming  Bishop  of  Bristol  and  afterwards  of 
Hereford.  The  second  son,  John,  with  whom  we  are  now 
concerned,  went  to  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  as  a  Foun- 
dation scholar.  He  was  afterwards  admitted  a  fellow,  and 
is  said  by  Fuller  to  have  been  Professor  of  Rhetoric.  From 
some  correspondence  which  remains,  bearing  the  date  1588, 
it  seems  probable  that  he  was  attached  in  some  capacity  to 
the  household  of  Lord  Burghley.  In  1591  we  find  him 
occupying  a  post  in  the  Dockyard  at  Deptford,  but  the  two 
following  years  were  spent  in  travelling  on  the  Continent. 
Among  his  correspondents  at  that  time  was  the  celebrated 
Isaac  Casaubon.  From  the  time  of  his  return  he  was  in 
close  relations  with  Fulke  Greville,  afterwards  Lord  Brooke, 
Treasurer  of  the  Navy.  He  seems  to  have  been  employed 
by  Greville  in  managing  his  private  affairs  as  well  as  in  the 
business  of  the  Admiralty.  In  16 18,  in  consequence  of  the 
experience  he  had  acquired,  he  was  put  upon  a  commission 


A   NEW  PATRICIAN   HOUSE  3 

appointed  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  Navy,  and  when 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham  became  Lord  High  Admiral,  Coke 
was  at  his  instance  appointed  a  Commissioner  of  the  Navy. 
This  office  carried  no  fixed  salary,  but  in  162 1  the  King,  for  his 
'great  services,'  granted  him  certain  allowances  amounting  to 
300/.  a  year.  In  1622  he  was  made  one  of  the  Masters  of 
Requests  ;  two  years  later  he  was  knighted,  and  in  September 
1625,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  two  principal  Secretaries 
of  State,  and  became  a  Privy  Councillor.  As  Commissioner 
of  the  Navy  he  was  employed  in  fitting  out  the  expeditions 
to  Cadiz  and  Rochelle,  and  as  Secretary  of  State  he  accom- 
panied the  King  on  his  visits  to  Scotland  in  1633  and  1639. 
Since  1620  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, sitting  successively  for  Warwick,  St.  Germans,  and 
Cambridge  University. 

His  last  journey  with  the  King  to  Scotland  was  the 
climax  of  his  fortunes,  and  the  end  of  his  public  career. 
The  King  had  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  army  bent 
upon  chastising  the  insolence  of  his  Scottish  subjects.  He 
was  forced  into  an  ignominious  treaty,  and  came  back  out 
witted  and  disgraced.  'The  King,'  says  Clarendon,  'was 
very  melancholic,  and  quickly  discerned  that  he  had  lost 
reputation  at  home  and  abroad,  and  those  Councillors  who 
had  been  most  faulty,  either  through  want  of  courage  or 
wisdom  (for  at  that  time  few  of  them  wanted  fidelity),  never 
afterwards  recovered  spirit  enough  to  do  their  duty,  but 
gave  themselves  up  to  those  who  had  so  much  over-witted 
them  ;  every  man  shifting  the  fault  from  himself  and  finding 
some  friend  to  excuse  him,  and  it  being  yet  necessary  that 
so  infamous  a  matter  should  not  be  covered  with  absolute 
oblivion  it  fell  to  Secretary  Coke's  turn  (for  whom  nobody 
cared),  who  was  then  near  four  score  years  of  age,  to  be 

£  2 


4  LORD  MELBOURNE 

made  the  .sacrifice,  and  upon  pretence  that  lie  had  omitted 
the  writing  what  he  ought  to  have  done,  and  inserted  some- 
what he  ought  not  to  have  done,  he  was  put  out  of  his  office.' 
Strafford  opposed  his  removal,  partly  out  of  dislike  to  his 
successor,  Sir  Henry  Vane,  but  was  unable  to  overcome  the 
secret  influence  of  the  Queen.     The  old  man  took  his  dis- 
missal philosophically,  as  he  might  well  do  at  his  age.     He 
writes  to  his  son  at  Melbourne  that  he  is  bringing  a  great 
family  upon  him  to  pester  his  house,  but  not  to  be  a  charge 
upon  his  purse.     He  wants  the  study  to  be  got  ready,  as  he 
is  bringing  down  sundry  books,  '  though  not  very  choice,'  to 
fill  it.     He  has  sent  to  Barbary  for  hawks,  and  his  daughter 
is  to  be  sure  to  '  brew  a  store  of  beer  against  March.'     He 
is  also  having  a  gown  made  for  the  rector  whom  he  has  just 
presented  to  the  living.     It  is  at  present  at  the  dyer's,  but  it 
shall  be  '  made  up  in  convenient  time.'     Unfortunately,  he 
was  not  long  allowed  to  live  in  peace  at  Melbourne  Hall. 
When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  he  was  harassed  by  both 
parties,  neither  having  full  confidence  in  him.     The  Royalist 
leanings  of  the  townspeople  brought  over  a  detachment  of 
Parliamentary  soldiers  from  Derby,  and  their  commander, 
Major  Swallow,  took  up  his  quarters  at  the  Hall,  where  he 
was  visited  by  his  friend  Richard  Baxter,  the  Puritan  divine. 
While  there  Baxter  began  writing  the  treatise  which  has 
brought  repose  to  so  many  souls,  his  '  Saints'  Everlasting 
Rest.'      That  was   the  rest   towards  which  Sir   John  was 
hastening.     Forced  to  quit  Melbourne,  he  slowly  made  his 
way  to  Tottenham,  with  a  pass  provided  for  him  by  his  son, 
and  there,  at  the  house  of  his  relative,  Alderman  Lee,  in 
September  1644,  he  finished  his  long  pilgrimage. 

Sir  John  Coke  left  two  sons,  John  and  Thomas.     They 
both  had  seats  in  the  Long  Parliament,  but  took  opposite 


A   NEW   PATRICIAN    HOUSE  5 

sides.  John,  who  was  knighted  in  1633,  subscribed  the 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  and  was  one  of  the  Com- 
missioners appointed  by  the  House  of  Commons  to  receive 
the  King  at  the  hands  of  the  Scots'  army.  He  died  in  1650, 
without  issue.  Thomas,  who  succeeded  to  the  family 
estates,  adhered  to  the  cause  of  the  King.  He  was  declared 
incapable  of  sitting,  fined  500/.  in  1648,  and  again  2,200/.  in 
1650,  for  delinquency  to  the  Commonwealth.  During  a  part 
of  this  latter  year  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  by  the 
order  of  the  House.  He  left  an  only  child,  John  Coke, 
who  became  member  for  Derby,  and  at  least  achieved  the 
distinction  of  being  mentioned  in  Hume's  History.  In  his 
speech  from  the  throne  on  opening  his  first  Parliament 
James  II.  informed  both  Houses  that  in  levying  additional 
forces  he  had  employed  many  Catholic  officers,  and  in  order 
to  do  so  had  dispensed  with  the  law  requiring  a  test  to  be 
administered  to  all  persons  holding  office.  The  Commons 
voted  an  address  against  the  dispensing  power.  '  The 
address,'  says  Hume,  'was  expressed  in  most  respectful 
and  submissive  terms,  yet  it  was  very  ill  received  by  the 
King,  and  his  answer  contained  a  flat  denial,  uttered  with 
great  warmth  and  vehemence.  The  Commons  were  so 
daunted  with  this  reply  that  they  kept  silence  a  long  time, 
and  when  Coke,  member  for  Derby,  rose  up  and  said,  "  I 
hope  we  are  all  Englishmen,  and  not  to  be  frightened  with 
a  few  hard  words,"  so  little  spirit  appeared  in  that  assembly, 
often  so  refractory  and  mutinous,  that  they  sent  him  to  the 
Tower  for  bluntly  expressing  a  free  and  generous  sentiment.' 
Both  father  and  son  had  thus  the  honour  of  being  sent  to 
the  Tower  by  the  order  of  the  House  of  Commons,  one  for 
sympathising  with  Charles  I.,  the  other  for  speaking  out  too 
boldly  against  the  illegal   proceedings  of  James  II.     The 


6  LORD   MELBOURNE 

discipline  of  the  Tower  was  wasted  on  John  Coke.  He  was 
ready  to  act  in  accordance  with  his  sense  of  an  Englishman's 
duty  when  the  time  came.  In  November  and  December 
1688  we  find  him  busy  through  his  agents  in  enlisting  a 
Derbyshire  regiment  for  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  from  the 
accounts  forwarded  to  him  at  his  London  quarters,  '  Mrs. 
Warner's,  in  Surry  Street,  over  against  the  Maypole  in  the 
Strand,'  he  would  appear  to  have  borne  the  greater  part  of 
the  expense.  He  took  the  post  of  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and 
the  Earl  of  Devonshire  had  the  chief  command.  A  despatch 
from  Marshal  Schomberg,  dated  Whitehall,  February  1689, 
orders  the  Earl  to  report  the  number  of  his  effective  troops 
to  His  Majesty,  and  to  hold  them  in  readiness  for  a  speedy 
march. 

After  the  Revolution  John  Coke  travelled  a  good  deal 
abroad,  his  only  son  Thomas  filling  his  place  at  Melbourne 
Hall.  Thomas  Coke  is  described  as  handsome,  clever,  of 
winning  manners,  and  universally  popular.  His  career 
affords  proof  that  he  was  well  equipped  with  social  and 
courtly  qualities.  He  represented  the  county  of  Derby  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  with  Lord  Hartington  for  his 
colleague,  and  it  appears  from  his  correspondence  that  it 
was  to  him  chiefly  his  constituents  looked  for  the  protection 
of  their  local  interests.  One  letter  out  of  many  that  were 
addressed  to  him  deserves  perhaps  a  passing  notice  on 
account  of  the  light  it  sheds  upon  the  state  of  the  Poor 
Laws.  By  a  recent  Act  power  had  been  conferred  upon 
the  county  justices  to  compel  persons,  under  a  penalty  of 
10/.,  to  take  poor  parish  children  as  apprentices.  The 
Derbyshire  magistrates  were  forcing  these  apprentices  on  the 
clergy,  and  the  Rev.  John  Ward  of  Mickle  Over  writes  that 
an  apprentice  girl  is  to  be  put  upon  him  by  an  indenture 


A   NEW  PATRICIAN    HOUSE  7 

wherein  he  '  must  covenant  to  teach  her  the  art  and  mystery 
of  husbandry.'  Mr.  Ward  complains  that  he  is  quite  unable 
to  fulfil  this  covenant.  Husbandry  is  not  practised  by  the 
clergy,  as  '  being  unsuitable  to  their  holy  function,  and  not 
agreeable  to  the  nature  and  tenure  of  their  church  livings.' 
Understanding  that  a  new  law  is  about  to  be  made  for  the 
better  relief  of  the  poor,  he  suggests  that  a  clause  should 
be  inserted  exempting  the  clergy  from  being  compellable  to 
receive  such  apprentices,  or  that  if  they  cannot  be  wholly 
relieved,  they  shall  be  assessed  in  some  moderate  sum  by 
way  of  equivalent.  '  I  know  none  like  yourself,'  Mr.  Ward 
concludes,  '  to  whom  I  could  with  that  hope  and  expectation 
address  my  submissive  desires.' 

Thomas  Coke  married  Mary,  daughter  of  the  second 
Earl  of  Chesterfield,  built  himself  a  house  in  London,  and 
figured  as  a  man  of  fashion.  His  marriage  brought  him 
into  close  connection  with  the  Lord  Treasurer,  and  the 
same  year,  1706,  in  which  Godolphin  was  raised  to  the 
peerage,  Coke  was  appointed  Vice-Chamberlain  in  the 
household  of  Queen  Anne,  and  made  a  Privy  Councillor. 
This  office  he  held  for  twenty  years.  Ministers  came  in 
and  went  out,  one  dynasty  succeeded  another,  but,  like  the 
Vicar  of  Bray,  Thomas  Coke  kept  his  place  at  court  almost 
to  the  end  of  the  reign  of  George  I.  He  must  have  been 
a  born  Polonius,  knowing  how  to  make  himself  agreeable 
to  a  matronly  sovereign  of  the  purest  morals,  and  to  the 
foreign  ladies  who  graced  the  court  of  her  successor.  His 
position  secured  him  an  acquaintance  with  the  wits  who 
hung  upon  the  skirts  of  the  ministries  of  Queen  Anne,  and 
his  dandified  airs  exposed  him  to  the  raillery  of  Pope.  His 
portraiture  has  been  recognised,  perhaps  by  mistake,  in  the 
'  Rape  of  the  Lock '  : — 


8  LORD   MELBOURNE 

(Sir  Plume,  of  amber  snuff-box  justly  vain, 
And  the  nice  conduct  of  a  clouded  cane.) 
With  earnest  eyes  and  round  unthinking  face, 
He  first  his  snuff-box  opened,  then  the  case. 

But  his  fine  ways  as  well  as  his  occasional  impecuniosity 
are  better  shown  by  the  contents  of  a  bill  which  he  left 
unsettled  when  he  left  London  for  Melbourne  in  1701.  An 
unfortunate  tradesman,  John  Arnold,  thus  writes  after  him  : 
'  I  have  seen  Sir  Christopher  Hailes  several  times  since  you 
left  London,  but  he  tells  me  he  has  no  money  for  me. 
Really,  sir,  my  necessities  are  so  urgent  at  present  that  I 
am  obliged  to  insist  on  your  Honour's  promise  made  to  me 
at  your  departure,  which  I  hope  (after  your  Honour  has 
considered  my  case)  you  will  perform  by  remitting  the 
money  by  the  first  opportunity  :  for  16  months  shaving 
head  and  face,  11/.  ;  for  12  times  cleaning  your  Honour's 
teeth,  61.  ;  for  curing  your  page's  legs,  and  others  of  your 
servants,  what  your  honour  pleases ;  for  Naples  soap,  2/.  10s. ; 
for  orange  flower  water,  16s.  ;  the  Frenchman's  bill  18/. — 
total  38/.  6*.' 

We  get  one  or  two  glimpses  of  the  Vice-Chamberlain 
in  Swift's  '  Journal  to  Stella.'  Swift's  first  visit  to  Windsor 
was  rather  sudden.  He  missed  his  portmanteau  on  the 
way,  and  had  to  borrow  one  of  Bolingbroke's  shirts  to  go  to 
court  in.  He  afterwards  went  down  more  leisurely  for  a 
week  at  the  invitation  of  Bolingbroke,  and  when  the  week 
was  over,  and  Bolingbroke  went  to  London,  he  resolved  to 
stay  on.  'The  Vice-Chamberlain,'  he  says,  'and  Mr. 
Masham  and  the  Green  Cloth  have  promised  me  dinners.  I 
shall  want  but  four  till  Mr.  Secretary  returns.'  'The  Green 
Cloth,'  he  remarks  with  satisfaction,  '  is  the  best  table  in 
England,  and  costs  the  Queen  a  thousand  pounds  a  month 


A   NEW    TATRICIAN    HOUSE  9 

while  she  is  at  Windsor  or  Hampton  Court.'  In  1709 
Coke  had  married  a  second  time.  His  wife  was  Mary 
Hale,  one  of  the  maids  of  honour  and  a  court  beauty. 
Swift  does  homage  to  her  reputation.  '  Mr.  Coke,  the 
Vice-Chamberlain,  made  me  a  long  visit  this  morning,  and 
invited  me  to  dinner,  but  the  toast,  his  lady,  was  unfortu- 
nately engaged  to  Lady  Sunderland.'  Again,  the  next 
morning,  '  Mr.  Vice-Chamberlain  lent  me  his  horses  to  ride 
about  and  see  the  country.'  If  the  Vice-Chamberlain 
treated  everybody  with  as  much  consideration  as  he  did 
Swift,  his  popularity  is  easily  explained. 

Thomas  Coke  died  a  rich  man.  Besides  the  salary 
which  he  had  enjoyed  for  twenty  years,  a  grateful  sovereign 
had  given  him  a  Tellership  in  the  Exchequer  and  the  grant 
of  a  reversion  in  the  Customs  for  two  lives  worth  500/.  a 
year.  Most  of  his  property,  in  addition  to  the  family 
estates,  was  settled  on  an  only  son,  with  remainder  to  his 
daughter  Charlotte.  They  were  both  children  by  the  second 
marriage,  and  being  still  young  at  the  time  of  their  father's 
death  they  spent  some  years  with  their  mother's  relatives 
in  Herefordshire.  In  1740  Charlotte  was  married  to 
Mr.  Matthew  Lamb,  and  on  the  death  of  her  brother  a  few 
years  later,  the  whole  of  the  Coke  property  became  hers 
and  her  children's. 

Mr.  Matthew  Lamb  was  one  of  the  luckiest  ol  men. 
He  was  one  of  two  brothers,  the  sons  of  Mr.  Matthew 
Lamb,  a  solicitor  of  long  standing  in  the  town  of  Southwell, 
Nottinghamshire.  It  was  till  lately  a  quiet  place,  of  faded 
looks,  as  if  it  belonged  to  an  earlier  world.  There  still 
lingers  about  it  an  unmistakable  air  of  greatness  in  decay. 
The  church  is  one  of  the  finest  in  England,  a  splendid 
example  of  Norman  and  Early  English  architecture,  full  of 


10  LORD  MELBOURNE 

monumental  tombs  and  effigies  of  prelates  long  since  gone  ; 
close  to  it  are  the  remains  of  what  was  once  a  palace  of  the 
Archbishop  of  York,  where  Cardinal  Wolsey  liked  to  live, 
It  has  lately  been  made,  as  we  all  know,   the  seat  of  a 
bishopric,  and  mitre  and  crosier  may  again  be  seen  on  the 
altar  steps.     Such  old  towns  are  the  chosen  nests  of  leading 
country  solicitors,  and  in   Southwell    Matthew  Lamb   the 
elder  plied  his  profession  for  half  a  century.     He  was  the 
confidential  adviser  of  the  Cokes  ot  Melbourne  Hall,  and 
of  many  of  the  neighbouring  gentry.     He  had  a  brother 
Peniston  who  practised  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  made  large  earnings, 
lived  frugally,  and  put  by  almost  all  he  made.    Of  Matthew's 
two  sons,  Robert,  the  elder,  entered  the  Church,  became  suc- 
cessively Dean  and  Bishop  of  Peterborough,  and  inherited 
the  wealth  of  his  uncle  Peniston.     But  the  bishop  was  a 
bachelor,  like  his  uncle,  and  at  his  death  the  accumulated 
spoils  of  the  Church  and  the  law  came  into  the  possession 
of  his  younger  brother  Matthew.     Their   father   had   left 
them  100,000/.  in  equal  shares,  but  the  whole  flowed  at  last 
in  the  same  channel.     Matthew  was  a  man  of  ability,  quite 
equal  to  the  making  of  a  fortune  for  himself,  if  several 
fortunes  had  not  been  left  him.     He  followed  his  uncle 
Peniston's  profession,   settled  in   London,   was  made  per- 
petual solicitor  to  the  revenue  of  the  Post  Office,  and  as 
confidential  adviser   had   among   his   clients   the  Earls  or 
Salisbury  and  Egmont.     In  the  year  after  his  marriage  he 
had  bought   himself  into  Parliament   for   the  borough  of 
Stockbridge.     In  1746  he  purchased  Brocket  Hall,  the  old 
residence  of  the  Winnington  family,  gradually  buying  back 
the  farms  which  had  formerly  been  a  part  of  the  estate,  and 
turning  them  into  a  verdant   demesne  through  which  the 
river  Lea  wanders  leisurely  and  drowsily  on  its  way  to  the 


A   NEW  PATRICIAN   HOUSE  II 

Thames.  It  was  easy  for  a  man  in  such  a  position  to 
obtain  a  baronetcy,  which  he  did.  His  brother's  position 
at  Peterborough  suggested  a  more  dignified  seat  than 
Stockbridge.  Lord  FitzWilliam  had  the  usual  influence  of 
a  landlord  over  the  scot  and  lot  voters  who  formed  the 
constituency  of  the  cathedral  city,  and  the  steward  of  the 
Chapter  officiated  as  returning  officer.  Matters  were  easily 
arranged,  and  during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  Sir 
Matthew  sat  for  Peterborough.  He  died  worth  property 
which  was  estimated  at  nearly  half  a  million,  besides  half 
a  million  more  in  ready  money.  With  these  ample  revenues, 
one  half  entirely  at  his  own  disposal,  his  only  son  Sir  Peniston 
Lamb  began  to  reign.  They  were  resources  which  skilful 
hands  might  employ  in  raising  the  family  fortunes  still 
higher. 


12  LORD   MELBOURNE 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY    YEARS    AND    EDUCATION 

The  Melbourne  household — Sir  Peniston  in  Parliament — The  ambi- 
tions of  a  great  lady  — An  Irish  peerage — With  princes  of  the  blood 
— Another  Vice-Chamberlain  in  the  family — The  company  at 
Melbourne  House  —William  Lamb  at  Eton  and  Cambridge — A  first 
flight  in  declamation— To  be  quoted  by  Fox — Law  and  philosophy 
at  Glasgow — Home  correspondence — Glasgow  manners — The  Miss 
Millars — Robert  Hall's  sermon — Lamb  does  not  like  the  Dis- 
senters. 

William  Lamb,  the  future  Premier,  was  born  at  Melbourne 
Hall  on  March  13,  1779.  Territorial  associations  are  dear 
to  a  new  family.  It  was  proper  that  he  should  first  see  the 
light  of  heaven  in  the  place  which  had  given  a  peerage 
title  to  his  father,  but  he  was  taken  up  to  London  to  be 
christened.  The  ceremony  is  one  which,  when  prudently 
arranged,  with  due  publicity  and  a  proper  choice  of  sponsors, 
affords  an  introduction  at  once  to  the  Church  and  to  the 
world,  giving  a  promise  of  two  very  different  sets  of  blessings. 
The  boy  was  not  born  into  an  empty  home.  He  had  a 
brother  nine  years  older  than  himself,  who  bore  his  father's 
name,  and  experienced  the  disadvantages  which,  as  some 
equipoise  to  greater  material  fortune,  are  generally  the  lot 
of  eldest  sons.  The  Melbourne  family  enlarged  itself 
slowly.  After  three  years  a  third  son,  Frederick,  was  born. 
He  lived  to  enjoy  the  advantage  of  having  a  brother  and  a 


EARLY  YEARS  AND  EDUCATION       1 3 

brother-in-law  occupying  important  positions  in  the  State. 
Next  came  George,  who  acquired  some  local  celebrity  as 
a  politician,  and  ran  the  gauntlet  of  certain  contests  at 
Westminster.  Then  in  1787  the  last  and  brightest  addition 
was  welcomed  in  a  daughter  Emily,  who  became  the  wife 
of  Earl  Cowper,  and  afterwards,  as  Lady  Palmerston,  pro- 
longed to  our  own  time  that  commingling  of  social  and 
political  influences  which  was  the  special  mark  of  an  earlier 
generation. 

These  were  as  yet  remote  and  unforeseen  developments. 
We  must  dwell  for  a  moment  upon  the  earlier  characteristics 
of  their  family  life.  It  is  interesting  to  see  in  what  direction 
those  who  had  command  of  the  helm  meant  to  steer,  and 
how  they  spread  their  sails  to  the  breeze.  This  will  serve 
to  illustrate  the  tone  and  temper  of  the  period,  and  help  us 
to  appreciate  the  circumstances  which  told  upon  our  hero's 
susceptible  years  from  the  time  he  left  the  cradle  till  he 
reached  manhood- 

In  this  case  there  was  never  but  one  helmsman,  the 
brilliant  lady  who,  at  twenty  years  of  age,  became  the  wife 
of  Sir  Peniston  Lamb.  She  was  not  a  great  heiress,  and  if 
it  is  true,  as  her  husband  is  said  to  have  boasted,  that  on 
his  marriage  he  gave  his  wife's  portion  back  to  her  in 
diamonds,  it  may  be  inferred  that  her  beauty  and  accom- 
plishments were  her  chief  and  sufficient  dower.  Sir 
Peniston  did  not  want  money.  On  the  threshold  of  life  he 
had  stepped  into  possession  of  what  passed  then  for  a 
abulously  large  fortune.  The  thrifty  accumulations  of  several 
generations  of  lawyers,  churchmen,  and  placemen  had  fallen 
into  his  hands,  amounting,  we  have  seen,  to  nearly  a  million. 
The  day  of  colossal  fortunes  had  not  then  come.  Manu- 
factures were  in  their  infancy,  and  commercial  operations 


14  LORD   MELBOURNE 

on  a  scale  with  which  we  are  familiar  were  unknown.  The 
race  of  great  contractors  came  in  with  railroads  and  steam. 
A  revolution  in  the  iron  trade  had  sent  a  fortunate  inventor 
to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  success  in  banking  was  soon  to 
pave  the  way  for  another  aspirant ;  but  the  land,  the  law,  and 
the  Church  were  as  yet  the  chief  avenues  to  wealth,  and  it 
would  have  been  regarded  almost  as  sacrilege  to  bestow  a 
peerage  upon  plutocratic  distinction  otherwise  achieved. 
Sir  Peniston  had  some  slight  recommendations  in  addition. 
His  uncle  was  Bishop  of  Peterborough,  and  his  sister  was 
married  to  Lord  Belasyse,  son  of  Viscount  Fauconberg. 
The  second  Lord  Fauconberg  married  Mary,  daughter  of 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers  for  the 
first  and  second  years  after  the  Restoration  contains  two 
entries  which  may  be  placed  in  contrast.  One  records  a 
certificate  by  Thomas  Viscount  Fauconberg  '  of  his  laying 
hold  of  the  King's  gracious  pardon,  promised  to  all  who 
should  lay  hold  of  it  within  forty  days,'  the  other  the  '  grant 
to  Mark  Milbanke,  of  Halnaby,  co.  York,  of  the  dignity  of 
a  baronet' 

Sir  Peniston  made  it  his  first  business  after  his  father's 
death  to  obtain  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons.  It  may 
be  taken  for  granted  that  he  cared  nothing  about  politics, 
any  more  than  his  father  had  done.  But  the  King,  who 
was  the  fountain  of  honour,  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  House.  He  read  the  lists  of  the  votes  and 
knew  to  a  man  who  figured  in  the  ministerial  majorities. 
To  have  a  vote  and  to  place  it  at  the  minister's  disposal  was 
a  proof  of  loyalty  certain,  sooner  or  later,  to  receive  a 
grateful  recognition.  Besides,  it  was  obviously  the  part  of 
a  new  man,  one  of  the  latest  accessions  to  the  conservative 
forces  of  the  nation,  to  stand   up  for  the  Crown.     Lord 


EARLY  YEARS  AND  EDUCATION       1 5 

Belasyse  had  succeeded  his  father-in-law  at  Peterborough,  so 
that  Sir  Peniston  had  to  look  elsewhere.  But  there  was  no 
difficulty.  There  was  generally  a  seat  in  the  market  to  be 
had  at  a  price.  George  Selwyn  was  the  joint  owner  of 
Luggershall,  a  Wiltshire  hamlet  long  since  lost  to  fame,  but 
then  returning  two  members.  One  of  these  seats  was 
assigned  to  Sir  Peniston.  He  had  to  pay  for  it  no  doubt, 
and  George  Selwyn  had  a  private  account  of  his  own  with 
the  Government.  He  had  a  place  in  the  pension  list  on  the 
strength  of  the  use  he  made  of  his  proprietary  rights.  It 
was  a  good  time  for  a  parliamentary  speculator.  Lord 
North  was  beginning  his  administration.  He  wanted  a  safe 
majority,  and  he  was  familiar  with  the  means  of  obtaining 
one.  Hence,  within  a  year  of  Sir  Peniston's  marriage,  and 
while  he  was  receiving  the  felicitations  of  his  friends  on  the 
birth  of  a  son  and  heir,  his  Majesty  was  pleased  to  create 
him  Baron  Melbourne  of  Kilmore  in  the  county  of  Cavan. 
The  new  peer  had  never  been  in  Ireland,  had  not  a  jot  of 
interest  there,  and  knew  nothing  of  the  country.  But  the 
King  drew  at  his  pleasure  upon  Irish  peerages  and  pensions. 
He  played  in  a  different  style  the  game  of  Charles  I.  He 
used  his  prerogative  in  one  country  as  a  means  of  governing 
the  other.  Not  for  all  his  fortune  would  Sir  Peniston  have 
been  able  at  that  time  to  win  a  British  peerage. 

It  was  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  votes  were  wanted, 
and  with  an  Irish  peerage  he  could  still  sit  there.  The  King 
bestowed  his  honours  with  a  keen  sense  of  thrift.  The  man 
whom  he  made  a  baron  to-day  would  readily  comprehend 
that  his  further  elevation  depended  upon  himself.  Lord 
Melbourne  placed  his  vote  unreservedly  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Government.  All  through  the  disastrous  struggle  with 
the  revolted  colonies  he  gave  the  King  and  his  minister  an 


\6  LORD   MELBOURNE 

undeviating  support.  As  the  crisis  of  the  administration 
approached,  Burke  brought  in  his  Bill  for  promoting 
economical  reform,  and  '  the  better  security  of  the  inde- 
pendence of  Parliament.'  Dunning  followed  with  his 
famous  resolution,  that  the  power  of  the  Crown  'had 
increased,  was  increasing,  and  ought  to  be  diminished.' 
Lord  Melbourne,  of  course,  voted  against  both.  In  pre- 
paring for  the  final  struggle  in  a  new  Parliament,  the 
minister  anxiously  reviewed  his  forces.  The  lists  of  those 
who  had  stood  firm,  and  of  those  who  had  shown  signs  of 
defection,  were  critically  scanned  in  the  royal  closet.  Lord 
Melbourne's  record  was  unexceptionable,  but  there  were 
social  influences  at  work  which  might  suggest  some  devia- 
tion even  to  him.  His  fidelity  was  probably  strengthened 
by  his  being  made  a  viscount.  The  first  step  in  the 
peerage  followed  close  upon  the  birth  of  his  eldest  son  ; 
the  next  came  two  years  after  the  birth  of  his  second. 

During  the  intervening  ten  years  Lord  Melbourne  was 
worthily  seconded  by  his  wife.  What  he  did  in  Parliament 
by  simply  walking  into  the  lobby,  she  did  in  society  by  far 
more  elaborate  and  costly  exertions.  Lady  Melbourne 
made  her  husband  aware  that  it  was  his  duty  to  maintain 
an  establishment  in  keeping  with  his  rank.  He  bought  the 
house  in  Piccadilly  which  the  first  Lord  Holland  had  built, 
but  had  lately  left  for  the  historic  mansion  at  Kensington 
which  excites  so  much  interest  to-day.  The  house  was 
thenceforth  called  Melbourne  House,  but  only  for  a  time. 
There  was  another  change  of  ownership  under  circum- 
stances which  show  how  amiability  may  be  seconded  by 
versatile  tastes,  and  how  two  wishes,  each  the  fruition  of 
the  other,  may  unconsciously  ripen  in  different  minds,  even 
on  a  subject  so  prosaic  as  a  choice  of  dwellings.      Some 


EARLY  YEARS  AND  EDUCATION        \y 

years  later  the  Duke  of  York  happened  to  say  to  Lady 
Melbourne  how  much  he  would  wish  to  have  a  house  like 
hers.  Her  ladyship  at  once  said  how  she  had  often  wished 
to  have  a  house  like  his.  Since  their  mutual  happiness 
could  be  so  easily  augmented  it  would  have  been  foolish 
not  to  make  the  exchange.  Accordingly  the  King's  con- 
sent was  obtained,  the  Duke  took  possession  of  Melbourne 
House,  and  Lady  Melbourne,  her  lord  dutifully  acquiescent, 
removed  to  Whitehall,  where  she  could  '  look  out  upon  the 
Park.'  The  houses  of  course  exchanged  names.  There 
must  have  been  some  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  Lady  Mel- 
bourne. Her  former  residence  had  been  decorated  regard- 
less of  expense  by  the  first  artists  of  the  day,  and  the  same 
rich  assortment  of  '  nymphs  and  cherubs  '  would  hardly  be 
found  at  her  new  abode.  But  it  was  something  to  have 
obliged  a  royal  duke,  and  something  also  to  live  in  a  house 
which  a  royal  duke  had  occupied.  Some  odour  of  royalty 
could  hardly  fail  to  be  left  behind. 

It  will  not  do  to  accept  too  literally  the  descriptions 
given  us  of  the  hospitalities  at  Melbourne  House,  and  of 
the  exalted  personages  who  were  wont  to  seek  a  welcome 
there.  That  the  hospitalities  were  sumptuous  may  be  readily 
believed.  Certain  it  is  also  that  the  hostess  flew  at  high 
game  and  would  measure  with  instinctive  discernment  the 
social  value  of  her  guests.  We  are  told  who  were  there, 
which  is  equivalent  to  telling  us  who  were  not,  and  the 
negative  test  is  perhaps  the  more  conclusive  one  as  to 
character.  Lord  Melbourne  was  hardly  the  man  to  attract 
to  his  table  the  wit  and  genius  of  the  day.  He  was  a 
dawdler  in  politics,  a  dawdler  in  art,  a  dawdler  even  in  play. 
Languid,  insipid,  aimless,  illiterate  to  an  almost  incon- 
ceivable degree,   he   can    hardly  have   been    chosen   as   a 

c 


1 8  LORD  MELBOURNE 

companion  for  his  own  sake,  except  by  men  like  himself 
who  would  not  form  a  very  brilliant  circle.  The  chief 
attraction  doubtless  was  the  incomparable  hostess,  and 
nothing  is  better  established  than  the  selective  worth  of 
feminine  charms.  Mr.  Fox  is  said  to  have  been  a  frequent 
visitor.  He  knew  every  corner  of  the  house,  having  lived 
in  it,  and  would  naturally  feel  himself  at  home.  He  had 
not  yet  outlived  the  shadiest  period  of  his  shady  youth. 
The  son  of  a  man  who  had  mastered  all  the  arts  of  corrup- 
tion, and  grown  rich  on  public  plunder ;  who  had  himself, 
while  at  Eton,  polluted  the  morals  of  the  place,  and  made 
juvenile  profligacy  fashionable,  he  had  not  yet  begun  that 
compensatory  part  of  his  career  which  made  men  forget  the 
vices  of  his  earlier  years,  and  finally  enshrined  him  in  the 
Whig  pantheon  as  a  creature  little  less  than  divine. 

The  Prince  of  Wales  was  a  constant  guest  at  Melbourne 
House.  He  had  already  taken  some  steps  in  his  novitiate 
of  debauchery,  and  gave  full  promise  of  his  riper  achieve- 
ments. We  find  the  King  writing  confidentially  to  Lord 
North  begging  him  to  buy  back  at  any  reasonable  price  the 
letters  which  the  Prince  had  sent  to  Perdita  Robinson. 
Let  us  hope  he  had  not  become  so  very  bad  as  yet  ;  but, 
at  any  rate,  the  first  bloom  of  dissoluteness  was  upon  him. 
The  King  was  at  length  prevailed  upon  to  give  him  a  sepa- 
rate establishment  at  Carlton  House,  with  one-half  the  allow- 
ance which  his  friends  thought  requisite.  Lord  Melbourne 
was  appointed  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber. 
It  was  almost  the  same  position  that  his  grandfather  had 
filled  at  the  court  of  George  I.,  and  must  at  times  have 
involved  duties  equally  delicate.  But,  like  his  grandfather, 
he  weathered  all  storms,  and  was  still  at  his  post  when  the 
allied  sovereigns  visited  London  thirty  years  later.     What 


EARLY  YEARS  AND  EDUCATION       1 9 

had  best  be  regarded  as  inscrutable  are  the  qualifications 
which  led  to  his  appointment  and  kept  him  in  it.  At  the 
ball  which  was  held  at  Carlton  House  when  the  Prince 
took  possession,  he  is  said  to  have  received  '  the  congratula- 
tions of  all  that  was  best-born  and  most  beautiful  in  the 
land,' and  that  'on  none  were  admiring  eyes  more  fixed 
than  on  Lady  Melbourne,  then,  perhaps,  at  the  zenith  of 
her  popularity  and  attraction.' 

Lady  Melbourne  had  another  admirer.  Mr.  Torrens 
devotes  a  couple  of  pages  to  Lord  Egremont.  He  says 
that  by  the  admission  of  his  contemporaries  '  there  was  in 
his  voice  and  manner  a  fascination  for  women,  and  even 
for  men,  which  neither  knew  how  to  resist.'  We  are  told 
that  at  Melbourne  House  he  was  a  constant  guest,  and  that 
through  a  long  course  of  years  his  friendship  and  sympathy 
were  never  wanting.  '  Some  of  the  brightest  scenes  of 
William  Lamb's  childhood  were  in  Petworth  Park,  where 
he  and  his  brothers  used  to  gambol  all  day  long.'  To 
introduce  the  name  of  this  wealthy  nobleman  merely  to 
exalt  the  fame  of  Lady  Melbourne's  hospitality  seems 
needless  and  injudicious.  It  is  a  pity  to  put  on  gilding 
which,  as  it  has  been  put  on,  it  is  almost  a  duty  to  take  off 
We  are  reminded  that  '  old  Horace  snarls  at  Egremont  in 
his  characteristic  way  as  "  a  worthless  young  fellow," '  and 
an  explanation  is  added  which  seems  to  extract  the  sting 
Mr.  Greville  shall  tell  us  what  he  was  as  an  old  fellow 
'  Lord  Egremont  was  eighty-one  the  day  before  yesterday. 
He  has  reigned  here  for  sixty  years,  with  great  authority 
and  influence.  He  is  shrewd,  eccentric,  and  benevolent, 
and  has  always  been  munificent  and  charitable  in  his  way. 
.  .  .  His  course,  however,  is  nearly  run,  and  he  has  the 
mortification    of    feeling    that,    though    surrounded    with 

c  2 


20  LORD   MELBOURNE 

children  and  grandchildren,  he  is  almost  the  last  of  his 
race,  and  that  his  family  is  about  to  be  extinct.  All  his 
own  children  are  illegitimate.'  His  fascination  had  perhaps 
been  found  irresistible,  and  enormous  wealth,  profusely 
lavished,  can  cover  a  multitude  of  social  sins  ;  but  character 
should  count  for  something  in  gratuitously  enumerating  for 
our  admiration  the  intimates  and  bosom  friends  of  a  great 
lady's  household.  Of  course,  we  are  not  to  forget  the  moral 
perspective  which  is  proper  in  looking  back  upon  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  it  would  be  unjust  to  set  up  any 
austere  standard  in  estimating  the  proprieties  or  impro- 
prieties of  Melbourne  House.  Nevertheless  it  is  impossible 
to  dispense  with  a  standard  of  some  sort,  and  it  is  not  to  be 
lowered  to  suit  the  exigencies  of  complacent  biography. 
Lady  Melbourne  and  her  husband  were  not  unequally 
mated.  They  took  their  several  ways,  and  probably  had 
not  much  right  to  complain  of  each  other. 

With  these  aids  one  may  perhaps  be  able  to  picture  the 
domestic  scenes  on  which  their  second  son  would  open  his 
large  eyes  when  he  began  to  see  and  feel  on  his  own  account. 
The  children  lived  chiefly  at  Brocket.  The  old  Hall  had 
been  enlarged  and  beautified  by  Sir  Matthew  Lamb.  When 
Lady  Melbourne  succeeded  to  power,  she  took  it  into  her 
own  hands  and  did  with  it  as  she  had  done  with  their  place 
in  London.  She  lavished  upon  it  every  kind  of  adornment, 
and  turned  both  Hall  and  grounds  into  such  an  earthly 
paradise  as  the  decorator  and  the  landscape  gardener  can 
create.  A  greater  artist  was  employed  to  do  justice  to  the 
charms  of  her  children.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  who  had 
twice  painted  a  portrait  of  the  mother,  was  persuaded  to 
make  a  study  of  the  three  elder  boys,  and  '  the  Affectionate 
Brothers,'  in  which  they  are  represented  as  a  group  at  play, 


early  years  and  education      21 

ranks  among  his  most  graceful  and  finished  compositions. 
Lady  Melbourne  gave  as  much  time  to  her  children  as  could 
be  spared  from  the  exacting  claims  of  the  fashionable  society 
in  which  she  lived,  moved,  and  had  her  being.     It  is  not 
necessary  to  waste  words  upon   maternal   love.     Epithets 
are  but  foolish  when  employed  to  paint  instinctive  passion. 
Lady  Melbourne  loved  them  all,  but  is  said  to  have  shown 
a  marked  difference  in  favour  of  her  second  son.     This 
difference,  discernible  when  they  were  young,  lasted  till  this 
second  son  had  grown  to  manhood,  and  the  death  of  the 
eldest   put   an   end   as   between   them   to    all   preference. 
Peniston,  the  eldest,  was  his  father's  favourite,  and  the  love 
lavished  upon  him  seems  to  have  been  so  absorbing  that 
none  was  left  for  his  brother,  who  had  to  look  to  his  other 
parent  for  compensation.     Of  Lady  Melbourne  it  is  said  in 
reference   to   her   second   son,  in  language   which  sounds 
extravagant,    if  not   mysterious,    '  Soon  she  felt,   however, 
that  if  the  little  stranger  was  to  be  prized  and  loved,  all  must 
come  from  her  ; '   and  then  we  are  told  that  she    '  vowed 
within   herself    devotion '    to    his    '  upbringing   and    future 
destiny.'     How  this  maternal  love  displayed  itself,  or  how 
the  boy  was  brought  up  during  the  first  eleven   years  of 
his  life,  there  is  no  evidence  to  show.     Perhaps  it  was  not 
thought  worth  recording.     The  importance  of  early  training 
was    insufficiently   felt   among    the   higher   classes.      The 
traditions  of  country  life  influenced  their  homes,  and  pro- 
duced  an  indifference  to   intellectual  occupations.     Chil- 
dren were  left  pretty  much  to  themselves.     They  picked  up 
their  English  and  the  rudiments  of  knowledge  from   the 
servants,  and  their  education  was  supposed  only  to  begin 
when  they  went  to  a  public  school.     Lord  Althorp,  living 
under  the  same  roof  which  sheltered  a  famous  library,  was 


22  LORD  MELBOURNE 

taught  to  read  by  his  mother's  Swiss  footman.  The  stimulus 
afforded  to  the  manufacturing  classes  by  mechanical  in- 
ventions and  the  sudden  outburst  ot  industry  had  not  yet 
reached  the  aristocracy,  and  would  not  reach  them  for  a  long 
time  to  come.  They  little  dreamed  of  the  character  of  the 
epoch  upon  which  they  were  entering.  The  fabric  of  landed 
ascendency  was  still  undisturbed,  and  they  acted  as  if  they 
imagined  that  it  would  last  for  ever.  Hence  they  took  no 
pains  to  equip  the  rising  generation  for  the  shock  of  new 
opinions  and  for  the  social  changes  which  were  rapidly 
preparing.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  Lady  Melbourne's 
devotion  to  the  welfare  of  her  favourite  son  assumed  any 
higher  form  than  a  resolve  to  quicken  his  ambition  and 
assist  him  in  forming  those  political  connections  which  would 
help  him  on  the  road  to  place  and  power. 

In  1790,  when  eleven  years  old,  William  Lamb  was  sent 
to  Eton,  where  he  had  as  class-fellows  John  Bird  Sumner, 
who  became  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Charles  Ellis, 
afterwards  Lord  Stuart  de  Rothesay,  the  Marquis  of 
Tullibardine,  Charles  Stewart,  afterwards  third  Marquis  of 
Londonderry,  and  the  famous  Beau  Brummel.  Among  his 
contemporaries  were  Hallam  the  historian,  Denman  the 
future  Lord  Chief  Justice,  Shadwell  the  Vice-Chancellor, 
and  Assheton  Smith,  the  prince  of  fox-hunters.  The  only 
memorial  left  of  William  Lamb  at  Eton  is  a  copy  of  verses 
in  the  '  Musas  Etonenses  '  which  show  at  least  that  he  had 
made  some  proficiency  in  the  mysteries  of  Latin  versification, 
and  we  are  able  to  state  on  the  highest  authority  that  he 
'got  a  good  deal  of  distinction  as  a  scholar.'  The  verses 
bear  the  date  1793.  In  1796,  his  last  year  at  Eton,  he  was 
in  the  sixth  form.  This  record  is  pretty  well  for  a  boy 
who  had  no  spur  to  exertion,  and  it  probably  does  him  less 


EARLY  YEARS  AND   EDUCATION  23 

than  justice.  Eleven  hours  of  class  work  in  the  week  left 
the  greater  part  of  every  day  in  his  own  hands,  and  what  he 
did  with  it  lay  with  himself.  The  taste  for  reading,  which 
was  one  of  Lamb's  best  points  in  after  years,  must  have 
been  acquired  early.  He  had  no  liking  for  outdoor  amuse- 
ments. He  never  took  kindly  to  the  autumn  stubble  or  the 
hunting  field.  He  preferred  a  book  and  a  reverie.  As  he 
grew  up  he  showed  a  great  aptitude  for  making  verses.  He 
always  had  a  large  stock  of  poetical  images  at  command,  and 
could  lay  claim  to  a  good  ear  for  melody  and  rhythm. 
These  accomplishments  it  is  fair  to  ascribe  to  his  Eton 
studies  ;  if  he  had  left  Eton  without  them,  they  would  hardly 
have  been  acquired  afterwards.  A  stronger  contrast  than  that 
presented  in  these  respects  between  himself  and  his  younger 
contemporary  and  future  colleague,  Lord  Althorp,  can  hardly 
be  imagined.  Lord  Althorp  was  delighted  to  roam  the 
fields  with  dog  and  gun.  He  was  a  lover  of  the  ring.  He 
stole  off  to  enjoy  the  '  pugilistic  displays  of  Jackson  and 
Cribb,'  and  handled  the  gloves  himself  with  no  ordinary 
skill.  At  Harrow  he  was  set  to  read  Blair's  '  Sermons,'  and 
found  Johnson's  Dictionary  useful  in  helping  him  to  under- 
stand the  fine  words.  Fine  words  were  quite  in  the  line  of 
William  Lamb,  but  a  bout  at  gloves  would  have  killed  him. 
In  1796  he  went  to  Cambridge,  entering  as  fellow- 
commoner  at  Trinity.  His  sole  college  triumph  was  to  win 
the  declamation  prize  at  the  end  of  his  second  year  by  an 
essay  on  '  the  progressive  improvements  of  mankind.'  The 
essay  was  of  course  printed,  and  a  copy  sent  to  Mr.  Fox, 
who,  mindful  of  his  friendships  at  Melbourne  House,  took 
occasion  to  quote  a  sentence  from  it  in  one  of  his  House  of 
Commons  speeches,  devoted  chiefly  to  a  eulogium  on  the 
character  of  Francis,  Duke  of  Bedford.    The  passage  which 


24  LORD   MELBOURNE 

had  this  celebrity  conferred  upon  it  runs  as  follows  :  '  Crime 
is  a  curse  only  to  the  period  in  which  it  is  successful  ;  but 
virtue,  whether  fortunate  or  otherwise,  blesses  not  only  its 
own  age,  but  remotest  posterity,  and  is  as  beneficial  by  its 
example  as  by  its  immediate  effects.'  Lamb  lived  to  see 
through  the  fallacy  of  this  argument  and  to  make  fun  of  it. 
The  virtues  which  the  passage  was  quoted  to  illustrate  are 
lost,  it  is  to  be  feared,  upon  the  present  age,  to  say  nothing 
of  a  remoter  posterity.  Francis,  Duke  of  Bedford,  lives 
only  in  the  pages  of  Junius,  and  Junius  himself  is  beginning 
to  afford  a  proof  that  literary  reputations  derived  from  the 
politics  of  the  hour  are  almost  as  mortal  as  the  men  who 
made  them.  It  would  be  cruel  as  well  as  absurd  to  visit  an 
undergraduate's  compositions  with  stringent  criticism,  but 
this  piece  of  prize  declamation  is  interesting,  inasmuch  as  it 
displays  for  the  first  time  those  qualities  which  characterised 
the  matured  performances  of  its  author.  It  affords  evidence 
of  wide  if  desultory  reading,  and  of  a  susceptible  and 
versatile  mind  ;  but  we  fail  to  discern  in  it  even  the  promise 
of  a  capacity  for  severe  thinking.  Facts  are  resolved  into 
metaphors  and  lost  in  boundless  generalisations,  while 
flowing  periods  satisfy  the  ear  but  get  no  further.  In  the 
course  of  a  dozen  lines  we  find  man  emerging  from  the 
woods  and  caverns,  assembling  societies,  founding  cities, 
instituting  laws,  and  cultivating  learning.  Then  the  arts 
reap  their  noblest  triumphs,  the  canvas  glows  with  animation, 
the  marble  swells  beneath  the  chisel  into  life.  Then  also 
'  Philosophy  in  her  colonnades  and  gardens  dictated  her 
solemn  truths,  Eloquence  poured  her  loudest,  and  Poetry 
breathed  her  most  enchanting  strains.'  We  come  next  to 
the  'unwieldy  empire  of  Rome,'  the  descent  of  the 
'  barbarous  hordes  '  from  the  north,  and  the  '  age  of  sterility  ' 


EARLY  YEARS  AND  EDUCATION       2$ 

which  followed.  From  such  vicissitudes  we  have  been 
rescued  by  the  art  of  printing,  which,  'by  giving  permanency 
to  the  productions  of  the  intellect,  makes  successive  changes 
but  so  many  steps  in  the  path  of  progress.'  The  philosophy 
is  optimistic,  and  this  is  perhaps  its  best  quality,  but  such 
exercitations  were  hardly  promising  for  a  budding  legislator. 
Far  other  powers  than  were  here  displayed  would  be  necessary 
to  sway  opinion  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

The  compliment  of  quoting  this  dissertation  in  the 
House  of  Commons  was  almost  the  discharge  of  a  debt 
which  Fox  owed  to  his  young  friend.  The  previous  January 
Lamb  had  broken  out  in  political  rhyme,  the  provocation 
coming  from  that  brilliant  coterie  of  Tory  wits  who  were 
doing  their  best  to  cover  Fox  and  his  adherents  with 
ridicule.  His  epistle  to  the  editor  of  the  '  Anti-Jacobin ' 
was  published  in  the  '  Morning  Chronicle '  of  January  1 7, 
1798.  It  was  his  first  appearance  in  print,  and  it  marks 
his  starting-point  in  politics,  fixed  by  his  social  sympathies 
rather  than  by  anything  in  the  shape  of  matured  opinion. 
The  lines  would  require  a  glossary  to  make  them  intelligible, 
and  they  are  hardly  worth  quoting.  A  sample,  including 
one  which  was  deemed  the  best,  will  show  that  they  were 
not  wanting  in  the  spice  of  personality  : 

I  swear  by  all  the  youths  that  Malmesbury  chose, 
By  Ellis'  sapient  prominence  of  nose, 
By  Morpeth's  gait,  important,  proud,  and  big, 
By  Leveson-Gower's  crop-imitating  wig. 

The  'Anti-Jacobin'  returned  the  fire,  Canning  himself  sup- 
plying powder  and  shot  : 

Bard  of  the  borrowed  lyre,  to  whom  belong 
The  shreds  and  remnants  of  each  hackney'd  song, 
Whose  verse  thy  friends  in  vain  for  wit  explore, 
And  count  but  one  good  line  in  eighty-four. 


26  LORD   MELBOURNE 

The  retort  told  with  fatal  effect.     Lamb  did  not  again  try 
his  hand  at  lampoons. 

As  a  younger  son  with  uncertain  prospects,  it  was  de- 
sirable that  Lamb  should  choose  a  profession,  and  the  bar 
had  been  pointed  out  to  him  as  likely  to  afford  a  suitable 
career.  It  might  prove  to  be  of  solid  worth  if  his  talents 
developed  in  that  direction,  and  in  any  case  it  would  serve 
to  employ  his  time  till  he  could  find  an  opening  in  Parlia- 
ment. Accordingly  he  was  entered  at  Lincoln's  Inn  during 
his  second  year  at  Trinity,  and  ran  the  scholastic  and  legal 
courses  together.  Here  he  was  on  ancestral  ground,  some 
considerable  portion  of  the  family  fortunes  had  been  made 
at  the  bar,  and  it  was,  perhaps,  possible  to  dream  of  a 
Lord  Chancellorship.  But  fagging  industry  was  not  yet  in 
his  line,  and  never  was  to  be.  Politics  might  open  its 
portals  on  easy  terms,  but  his  legal  studies  would  not 
show  him  the  way  to  the  woolsack.  In  the  meantime,  as  a 
finish  to  his  collegiate  studies,  it  was  decided  that  he  should 
spend  a  year  or  two  at  one  of  the  Scottish  Universities. 
Dugald  Stewart  was  the  great  attraction  at  Edinburgh,  but 
Glasgow  had  the  preference.  Professor  Millar  filled  the 
chair  of  history  and  law  at  that  university.  He  had 
dedicated  his  '  Historical  View  of  the  English  Govern- 
ment' to  Mr.  Fox,  whose  advice,  perhaps,  determined  the 
selection.  Lamb  had  a  sufficiently  aristocratic  introduction 
to  the  homely  seat  of  learning  on  the  Clyde.  The  Duke  of 
Bedford  applied  to  Lord  Lauderdale,  and  Lord  Lauderdale 
wrote  to  the  professor,  conveying  in  language  which  was, 
perhaps,  not  quite  faultless,  the  most  satisfactory  assurances 
as  to  the  character  and  abilities  of  the  young  student  ;  '  He 
is  a  younger  son  of  Lord  Melbourne's.  He  has  the  repu- 
tation and,  I  believe,  really  possesses,  uncommon  talents. 


EARLY  YEARS  AND  EDUCATION        27 

He  means  to  go  to  the  English  bar,  with  a  view  to  follow 
the  law  as  a  profession.  He  is  the  only  person  I  have  ever 
yet  recommended  to  you  of  whom  I  think  I  could  with  any 
safety  say  that  you  will  have  real  comfort  and  satisfaction  in 
having  him  as  a  pupil.'  Lord  Lauderdale  must  have  been 
strangely  inconsiderate  in  his  previous  recommendations,  or 
grievously  reckless  of  the  professor's  comfort,  and  it  was 
high  time  to  make  amends  by  sending  him  at  last  a  model 
young  man.  William  Lamb  spent  one  winter  and  part  of 
another  at  Glasgow,  residing  with  Professor  Millar.  He 
attended  the  professor's  class  in  history  and  law,  and  went 
to  Professor  Mylne  for  metaphysics.  There  was  a  Debating 
club  in  the  university,  and  Mr.  Torrens  is  able  to  assure  us 
that  he  took  a  '  constant  and  brilliant  part '  in  its  discussions, 
'  being  distinguished  for  aptitude  of  historic  illustration,  and 
for  caustic  humour  in  reply.'  On  this  point  we  must  be 
permitted  to  have  some  doubts.  Scotch  students,  at  any 
rate  at  Glasgow,  where  the  class  discipline  is  strict,  are  kept 
too  hard  at  work  to  have  much  leisure  for  declamation,  and 
of  William  Lamb's  presence  at  the  university  no  trace  or 
tradition  can  be  found.  It  is'probable  that  the  intellectual 
atmosphere  of  the  place  suited  him.  There,  at  any  rate, 
the  existence  of  great  problems  in  philosophy  and  morals 
was  recognised,  and  young  men  were  encouraged  by  the 
example  of  their  teachers  to  endeavour  to  contribute  some 
speculative  mite  towards  a  solution.  The  'Scotch  meta- 
physics' which  George  III.  disliked,  and  which  had  no 
counterpart  in  the  English  universities,  were  the  daily  food 
for  six  months  at  a  time  of  the  ingenuous  youth  across  the 
border,  no  small  proportion  of  whom  literally  cultivated 
learning  on  a  little  oatmeal.  A  succession  of  distinguished 
men  filled  the  logic  and  moral  philosophy  chairs  of  Glasgow 


28  LORD   MELBOURNE 

during  the  last  century.  In  the  earlier  part  Hutcheson  led 
the  way  with  his  inquiry  into  the  origin  of  our  ideas  and  his 
disquisitions  on  the  nature  and  conduct  of  the  passions. 
Adam  Smith,  not  yet  absorbed  in  the  great  work  of  his  life, 
followed  with  his  '  Theory  of  the  Moral  Sentiments,'  and 
when  he  retired  Reid  entered  the  lists  against  Berkeley  and 
Hume.  Reid  remained  an  intellectual  force  to  the  last,  and 
he  had  not  long  been  dead  when  Lamb  went  to  Glasgow. 
The  traditions  of  these  great  teachers  still  rested  as  a  spell 
upon  the  place,  and  it  is  possible  that  Professor  Mylne's 
lectures  may  have  helped  to  nourish  those  speculative 
tendencies  and  that  dreamy  fondness  for  casuistic  discus- 
sions  which  characterised  Lamb  in  after  years. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  reminiscences  of  his 
Glasgow  life  contained  in  '  Lord  Melbourne's  Papers  '  throw 
something  like  a  wet-blanket  over  these  conjectures,  which 
may  nevertheless  be  true.  William  did  not  go  alone.  He 
had  his  brother  Frederick  as  a  companion.  They  both 
resided  with  Professor  Millar,  and  they  kept  up  a  brisk 
correspondence  with  their  mother.  Their  letters  are  long 
and  racy,  and  prove  the  footing  of  perfect  comradeship  on 
which  they  stood  with  her.  Frederick  sends  her  a  descrip- 
tion of  their  life  in-doors.  '  There  is  nothing  heard  of  in 
this  house  but  study,  though  there  is  as  much  idleness, 
drunkenness,  &c,  out  of  it,  as  in  most  universities.  YVe 
breakfast  at  half-past  nine,  but  I  am  roused  by  a  stupid, 
slow,  lumbering  mathematician,  who  tumbles  me  out  of  bed 
at  eight.  During  the  whole  of  the  day  we  are  seldom  out 
of  the  house  or  the  lecture-rooms  for  more  than  an  hour, 
and  after  supper,  which  finishes  a  little  after  eleven,  the 
reading  generally  continues  till  near  two.  Saturday  and 
Sunday  are  holidays,  but  on  Monday  we  have  examinations 


EARLY  YEARS  AND  EDUCATION       29 

in  Millar's  lectures.     You  may  guess  whether  in  this  way 
many  things  are  likely  to  happen.     Millar  himself  is  a  little 
jolly  dog,  and  the   sharpest   fellow  I    ever  saw.     All  the 
ladies  here  are  contaminated  with  an  itch  for  philosophy 
and  learning,  and  such  a  set  of  fools  it  never  was  my  lot 
to  see.     One  of  the  Miss  Millars  is  pretty,  but  they  are  all 
philosophers,  and  the  eldest  is  exactly  like  Mrs.  Trimmer. 
William  quotes  poetry  to  them  all  day,  but  I  don't  think  he 
has  made  any  impression  yet,  and  my  conversation  with 
them  is  very  little.     One  of  the  fellows  in  the  house  is  a 
Scotchman,  a  blustering,  positive  sort  of  fellow,  but  very 
good-humoured  and  with  a  good  deal  of  knowledge.     The 
other  is  an  Irishman,  who  is  very  good-humoured  with  none, 
and  as  like  Lord  Duncannon  as  he  can  stand.     So  there  is 
a  sketch  of  the  family.'     A  letter  from  William  relates  other 
incidents.     '  Thanks  for  your  account  of  Kinnaird  (Byron's 
friend,  Charles,  eighth  baron  Kinnaird).     Is  he  staying  in 
town  ?     I  hope  you  will  contrive  this  winter  to  rub  off  a 
few  rum  ideas  which  he  contracted  in  these  philosophical 
colleges,   and    to   divest   him    of   rather   too    minute   and 
scrupulous  a  morality,  which  is  entirely  unfit  for  this  age. 
I  suppose  they  did  this  for  him  a  little  in  Edinburgh  last 
year,  but,  however,   I   daresay  some  work  is  still  left  fur 
London.     For  the  company  and  manners  of  this  place  I  do 
not  see  much  difference  in   them  from  the  company  and 
manners   of  any  country  town.      I    have  dined  out  in  a 
family-way  at  a  wealthy  merchant's,  and  we  have  had  several 
parties  at  home.     We  drink  healths  at  dinner,  hand  round 
the  cake  at  tea,  and  put  our  spoons  into  our  cups  when  we 
desire  to  have  no  more,  exactly  in  the  same  manner  that  we 
used  to  behave  at  Hatfield,   at  Eton,  and  at  Cambridge. 
Almost  the  only  exclusive  custom    I  have  remarked   is  a 


30  LORD   MELBOURNE 

devilish  good  one,  which  ought  to  be  adopted  everywhere. 
After  the  dinner  they  hand  round  the  table  a  bottle  of 
whisky  and  another  of  brandy,  and  the  whole  company, 
male  and  female  in  general,  indulge  in  a  dram.  This  is 
very  comfortable  and  very  exhilarating,  and  affords  an 
opportunity  for  many  jokes.  As  to  language,  they  talk 
infinitely  better  English  here  than  at  Newcastle,  and  are 
much  more  easily  understood.  The  town  is  a  damnable 
one,  and  the  dirtiest  I  ever  saw,  and  full  of  all  the  incon- 
veniences that  accompany  manufactures.  I  have  received 
the  works  of  the  Divine  Plato  and  the  Greek  Grammar  with 
great  thankfulness,  though  Xenophon  would  be  of  more 
use  to  me.' 

William  Lamb  writes  to  his  mother  on  all  sorts  of  topics, 
and  in  a  style  of  great  vivacity.  He  evidently  pours  out  his 
soul  to  her  without  the  least  reserve.  Novels,  politics,  the 
doings  of  Bonaparte,  the  course  which  Mr.  Fox  might 
pursue  '  with  the  greatest  propriety  and  dignity  and  utility,' 
all  pass  under  review.  'Lunacy  is  the  distemper  which 
common  fame  seems  always  to  give  to  our  ministers  (justly 
enough)  when  they  keep  themselves  up.  I  remember  they 
said  so  of  Pitt  a  year  ago.  The  time  may  not  be  very 
far  off  when  they  may  be  devilishly  glad  to  be  able  to  plead 
it.'  At  that  time  the  politics  of  Melbourne  House  were 
Foxite.  Referring  to  an  anonymous  preface  from  some 
English  pen  accompanying  the  publication  of  certain  alleged 
original  letters  from  the  French  army  in  Egypt,  he  writes  : 
'  It  is  impossible  to  determine  whether  the  preface  is 
Canning's  or  Gifford's,  or  some  one  else  of  the  same  set,  for 
the  like  hitch  and  catch  of  monotonous  wit  runs  through 
them  all,  poets,  secretaries,  parsons  and  nobles,  from  the 
top  to  the  bottom,  from  Frere  to  Boringdon.     Whoever  the 


EARLY  YEARS  AND  EDUCATION       3 1 

author  may  be  signifies  little.  The  only  doubt  is  whether 
he  be  a  more  degraded  fool,  or  a  more  infamous  calumniator.' 
Lord  Egremont  has  told  Lady  Melbourne  of  the  disputatious 
character  of  some  of  the  men  who  have  been  at  Professor 
Millar's,  a  hint  perhaps  to  Lamb.  He  thinks  the  impeach- 
ment likely  to  be  true  of  the  whole  University  :  '  No  place 
can  be  perfect,  and  the  truth  is  that  the  Scotch  universities 
are  very  much  calculated  to  make  a  man  vain,  important,  and 
pedantic.  This  is  naturally  the  case  where  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  reading.  You  cannot  have  the  advantages  of  study 
and  of  the  world  together.  The  way  is  to  let  neither  of 
them  get  too  fast  a  hold  of  you.'  He  receives  from  Dr. 
Langford  a  'Treatise  on  the  Requisites  for  Confirmation,  with 
a  dissertation  on  the  Sacrament,'  and  he  tells  his  mother  that 
he  has  written  '  to  praise  it  and  thank  him  for  it.'  Some  one, 
perhaps  his  mother,  has  sent  him  a  copy  of  Robert  Hall's 
sermon  on  '  Modern  Infidelity,'  and  he  subjects  it  to  rather 
pungent  criticism.  Though  it  'exactly  hits  Lewis's  taste 
(Monk  Lewis)  both  in  argument  and  eloquence,'  he  confesses 
that  it  meets  his  in  neither.  What  he  '  particularly  repro- 
bates in  the  sermon,  and  which  will  be  found  in  all  writings 
of  this  nature,  is  the  indiscriminate  abuse  of  all  who  have 
thought  against  them.  They  take  the  faults  and  crimes  of 
any  one  man,  and  apply  them  liberally  to  the  whole  sect.' 
'However,'  he  says,  'read  it  through.  I  do  not  think  you 
will  find  one  argument  of  the  absurdity  of  which  I  cannot,  I 
will  not  say  convince  you,  for  that  is  a  bold  word,  but  of  the 
validity  of  which  I  cannot  make  you  doubt.'  And  then  he 
adds  :  '  I  do  not  like  the  Dissenters,  and  this  Hall  is  one. 
They  are  more  zealous  and  consequently  more  intolerant 
than  the  Established  Church.  Their  only  object  is  power. 
If  we  are  to  have  a  prevailing  religion,  let  us  have  one  that 


32  LORD    MELBOURNE 

is  cool  and  indifferent  and  such  a  one  as  we  have  got.'  Lady 
Melbourne  seems  to  have  been  anxious  to  keep  her  favourite 
son  right  in  matters  of  belief,  but  he  had  already  formed 
habits  of  thought  which  made  him  impervious  to  sermons, 
at  any  rate  if  drawn  from  Dissenting  quivers. 


00 


CHAPTER  III 

WAITING    FOR   THE   TIDE 

Education  finished  ;  what  next  ? — Some  disadvantages  on  setting  out — 
Sauntering  — Decides  for  the  law — Is  called  to  the  bar  with  his 
future  Lord  Chancellor — Lamb  and  Pepys — Goes  on  circuit — 
Actually  gets  a  brief — A  twofold  crisis — Falls  in  love — Becomes 
an  eldest  son — A  courtship  not  without  sinister  auguries — A  double 
marriage  and  some  maternal  dreams  fulfilled. 

William  Lamb  had  now  crossed  the  threshold  of  manhood, 
and  on  a  superficial  view  his  position  might  seem  to  be  in 
all  respects  enviable,  but,  looked  at  more  closely,  we  shall 
perhaps  have  to  admit  that  it  was  attended  with  some  dis- 
advantages. It  is  a  mere  matter  of  justice  to  record  this 
fact.  In  afterlife  his  character  was  often  made  the  subject 
of  severe  criticism,  and  it  is  therefore  proper  to  take  into 
account  the  circumstances  which  told  upon  its  formation 
during  those  long  years,  one  third  of  an  average  career,  when 
responsibility  is  wholly  borne  or  largely  shared  by  others. 
His  childhood  and  youth  were  spent  in  mere  enjoyment,  and 
enjoyment  chiefly  of  the  passive  kind.  Gambolling  on  the 
lawns  at  Brocket  and  Petworth  appears  to  be  the  severest 
exercise  in  which  he  ever  indulged.  As  he  grew  up  he 
showed  no  fondness  for  those  manly  games  which  foster 
energy,  quicken  resolution,  and  train  the  will  to  habits  of 
decision.     It  is  to  be  feared  that  there  was  a  large  lack  in 

n 


34 


LORD   MELBOURNE 


his  home  life  of  that  moral  discipline,  something  quite 
different  from  strictness  or  severity,  which  insensibly  instils 
into  the  youthful  mind  a  sense  of  duty  and  leads  to  the 
gradual  discovery  of  obligations  which  have  to  be  recognised 
and  discharged  if  conduct  is  to  spring  from  any  deeper  source 
than  voluptuous  caprice.  There  is  no  trace  of  evidence  that 
he  ever  had  set  before  him  a  higher  ideal  than  one  which 
was  purely  worldly,  and  blame  must  be  mixed  with  much 
extenuation  if  we  find  that  the  twig  grew  as  it  was  bent. 

With  the  abilities  he  undoubtedly  possessed,  it  would 
have  been  a  good  for  him  intellectually,  and  even  with  a 
view  to  success,  if  he  had  been  born  in  different  surround- 
ings. Work,  and  the  discipline  attendant  upon  it,  were 
needed  to  give  point  to  his  powers,  and  if  he  had  been 
thrown  from  the  outset  upon  his  own  exertions,  he  might 
have  won  distinction  sooner  than  he  did,  and  won  it  more 
obviously  on  his  personal  merits.  It  was  his  ill-fortune  to 
be  brought  up  in  the  midst  of  a  lavish  display  of  wealth.  It 
did  not  mend  matters  that  the  display,  as  measured  by  the 
more  sober  tastes  of  the  present  day,  was  slightly  vulgar  in 
the  forms  it  took.  The  object  was  to  make  a  show,  to  pro- 
duce an  impression.  It  was  an  ill-regulated  profuseness, 
suggesting  that  the  mines  of  Golconda  lay  in  the  background 
close  at  hand,  and  that  the  flow  could  never  be  exhausted. 
It  is  true  that  William  Lamb  was  only  a  younger  son,  and 
that,  by  a  cherished  usage  upon  which  it  would  be  sacrilege 
to  innovate,  the  bulk  of  the  patrimony  of  a  great  family 
passes  to  the  first-born,  but  it  would  have  been  absurd  to  read 
out  to  him  the  dry  lessons  of  prudence  when  princes  of  the 
blood  were  being  feasted  at  his  father's  table.  The  mere 
overflow  of  this  sumptuous  expenditure  would  replenish  a 
reservoir  deep  enough  to  wade  and  swim  in. 


WAITING  FOR  THE  TIDE  35 

When  school  and  college  days  were  over,  there  was  no 
one  to  whom  the  young  man  could  look  for  advice,  no  one 
belonging  to  him  competent  to  give  it,  or  with  authority 
sufficient  to  make  him  feel  that  he  stood  in  need  of  it.  His 
father  did  not  care  for  him,  he  was  wrapped  up  in  his  eldest 
son,  who  resembled  him,  and  whose  tastes  were  the  same  as 
his  own.  He  was  a  passive  and  almost  silent  member  of 
the  household  at  Whitehall,  proud  perhaps  to  be  the  host 
of  the  gay  throng  whom  its  mistress  had  the  courage  and 
the  tact  to  gather  round  her,  but  acquiescent  rather  than 
delighted,  and  shut  up  at  times,  it  would  seem,  to  un- 
pleasant reveries.  'What  sacrifices,'  says  Mr.  Torrens,  'her 
indolent  and  undemonstrative  mate  had  silently  to  endure, 
by  what  regrets  his  hours  of  solitude  were  haunted,  by 
what  jealousies  his  dreams  were  troubled,  who  will  ever 
know  ? '  A  father  to  whom  such  remarks  will  apply,  even 
if  they  be  a  little  overcharged,  is  a  most  important  fact, 
if  only  on  the  negative  side,  in  a  son's  history.  William 
Lamb  was  left  to  his  mother.  She  might  do  with  him  what 
she  liked  and  what  she  could,  so  that  the  trouble  taken  went 
no  further  than  herself.  In  one  sense  she  worked  bravely 
for  him  and  for  them  all.  She  had  already  won  an  Irish 
peerage  for  her  husband,  and  she  hoped  some  day  to  make 
it  a  peerage  of  the  United  Kingdom.  Her  eldest  son  was 
to  be  valued  as  the  next  possessor.  His  future  was  supposed 
to  be  fixed,  but  there  was  ample  room  for  solicitude  and 
effort  in  the  uncertain  fortunes  of  his  brother.  He  had,  if 
possible,  to  be  got  into  Parliament,  though  his  chance  as  yet 
seemed  rather  remote.  Peniston  was  already  in  possession 
of  a  seat,  and  the  family  estates,  so  heavily  weighted  in  other 
ways,  would  hardly  bear  the  cost  of  two.  Much  would 
depend  upon  the  abilities  he  might  in  time  develop,  but  if 

I)  2 


36  LORD   MELBOURNE 

the  worst  came  to  the  worst,  it  would  surely  be  possible  so 
to  arrange  matters  that  some  kind-hearted  minister  would 
some  day  feel  obliged  out  of  civility  and  gratitude  to  present 
him  with  a  sinecure. 

The  new  family  had  as  yet  no  influential  connections, 
and  this  was  a  serious  defect  at  a  period  when  family  con- 
nection was  a  potent  factor  in  politics.     The  title  itself  had 
no  lustre,  it  was  held  to  be  one  of  those  titles  which  had 
been  given  for  votes,  and  the  older  peers,  forgetting  the 
comparative  juvenility  of  their  own  patents,   looked  with 
some  jealousy  on  peerages  created  for  the  mere  convenience 
of  the  Crown.    Old  blood,  or  blood  that  had  flowed  through 
at   least  two  or  three  coroneted  generations,  counted  for 
much  in  the  composition  of  a  ministry  and  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  places.     Umbrage  was  already  being  taken  at  the 
too  frequent  making  of  new  peers.     The  House  of  Lords, 
it  was  felt,  was  growing  too  numerous,  and  the  honour  of  a 
seat  in  it  would  soon  be  hardly  worth  having.     Moreover,  it 
rather  told  against  the  Melbournesthat  their  recent  honours 
were  so  ostentatiously  paraded,  and  made  the  occasion  for 
such  desperate  and  successful  attacks  upon  the  patronage, 
and  apparently  the  very  intimate  friendship,  of  the  very 
highest   personages    in    the  realm.     In   some  respects  the 
Prince   of  Wales   was   cheap   enough,  and  was  every  day 
making  himself  cheaper,  but  at  any  rate  he  was  the  heir  to 
the  throne,  and  it  showed  some  audacity  to  seize  upon  every 
opportunity  for  creeping  up  the  sleeve  of  the  future  King. 
It  amounted  almost  to  an  attestation  of  character,  betraying 
the   absence   of  that   fine   ancestral  pride  which  puts  no 
excessive  value  upon  the  social  pre-eminence  of  the  Crown, 
and  looks  with  disesteem  upon  any  immoderate  effort  to 
cultivate    its    blandishments.     This    want    of    aristocratic 


WAITING   FOR   THE  TIDE  37 

connections  of  a  well  established  type  was  a  difficulty  to  be 
overcome.  To  scale  the  barrier  and  settle  down  among  the 
strawberry  leaves  and  fair  white  lilies  on  the  other  side  was 
the  next  task  to  be  accomplished.  We  shall  soon  see  that 
it  was  managed  with  tolerable  success. 

William  Lamb  was  not  left  unprovided  with  the  prompt- 
ings of  ambition,  but  they  came  from  the  outside  and  found 
but  a  faint  echo  within.  Of  course  he  wished  to  become  a 
distinguished  man  ;  to  be  an  orator,  a  statesman,  a  minister, 
and  a  ruler  of  the  realm.  But  it  was  a  feeble  wish,  feeble 
partly  perhaps  because  of  diffidence  springing  from  a  half- 
suspicion  of  incapacity  for  any  lofty  flight,  but  still  more 
because  there  was  not  in  him  much  of  the  material,  good  or 
ill,  of  which  ambitious  minds  are  made.  Still,  as  a  filial 
duty,  as  the  best  recompense  he  could  render  to  maternal 
solicitude,  he  did  his  best  to  be  ambitious,  and  succeeded 
fairly  well.  But  it  is  one  thing  to  wish  and  another  to 
achieve.  Nothing  is  more  treacherous  and  useless  than 
vague  ambitious  dreams.  The  important  point  is  the  first 
step.  One  foot  securely  placed  on  the  lowest  rung  of  the 
ladder  is  better  than  any  amount  of  gazing  at  the  top.  But 
it  was  this  first  step  that  Lamb  hesitated  to  take,  and  knew 
not  how  to  take.  He  wanted  a  guide  through  those  next 
five  or  six  years  of  his  life,  which  would  probably  determine 
the  remainder  of  it.  Several  paths  were  equally  open,  or, 
whicli  came  to  the  same  thing,  were  equally  shut.  It  is 
suggested  that  the  Church  occurred  to  him  as  offering  a 
possible  career.  The  idea  was  quite  feasible.  His  suscep- 
tible and  pliant  mind  would  have  taken  kindly  to  theology, 
and  good  taste,  if  no  higher  influence  were  at  hand,  would 
perhaps  have  ensured  the  irreducible  minimum  of  professional 
decorum.    So  far  as  intellectual  qualifications  are  concerned, 


38  LORD   MELBOURNE 

and  we  are  warned  against  going  one  step  further,  he  would 
probably  have  made  a  better  bishop  than  he  made  a  states- 
man. It  is  said  that  Lord  Egremont  advised  him  not  to 
think  of  the  Church  ;  the  advice  came  from  an  odd  quarter, 
but  it  was  sound,  though  perhaps  it  was  not  required. 
William  Lamb  must  have  felt  himself  unfitted  for  either 
linen  or  lawn.  He  had,  as  we  have  seen,  entered  himself 
in  the  books  of  Lincoln's  Inn  during  his  second  year  at 
Cambridge,  and  while  it  is  probable  that  he  had  not  yet 
finally  made  up  his  mind,  he  looked  forward  to  the  bar  as 
his  destination  in  default  of  anything  better. 

In  the  meantime  he  spent  four  or  five  years  in  thorough 
idleness.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  he  did  not  attend 
lectures  occasionally,  or  peep  into  the  law  courts  to  pick 
up  hints  with  a  remote  eye  to  business,  or  neglect  his  dinners 
at  Lincoln's  Inn,  or  even  that  he  did  not  read  a  good  deal. 
There  is  abundant  evidence  that  he  was  an  omnivorous 
reader,  and  that  he  found  real  pleasure  in  reading.  This 
must  always  be  remembered  as  one  of  his  saving  qualities. 
But  he  did  not  engage  in  any  course  of  systematic  study. 
He  did  not  set  himself  to  acquire  the  knowledge  requisite 
for  the  profession  he  had  in  view.  He  passed  his  time  as  a 
fine  gentleman  about  town,  looking  into  the  clubs,  sauntering 
along  St.  James's  Street  and  Pall  Mall,  and  spending  his 
evenings  convivially.  He  renewed  his  Eton  acquaintance 
with  Brummel,  whom  he  saw  almost  every  day,  and  they 
often  dined  together.  It  would  be  going  too  far  to  say  that 
they  were  rivals  in  dress,  for  Brummel  was  admitted  to  be 
unapproachable,  but  Lamb  knew  the  art  of  concealing  art, 
and  was  not  the  less  fastidious  in  his  attire  because  it  fell  in 
with  his  humour  to  add  to  it  the  piquancy  of  an  affected 
indifference.     He  was  a  man  of  fashion,  and  aspired  to  be 


WAITING  FOR  THE  TIDE  39 

considered  a  man  of  the  world.  He  stood  well  with  the 
guests  who  met  under  his  father's  roof.  Lord  Minto 
describes  him  as  '  a  remarkably  pleasant,  clever,  and  well- 
informed  young  man.'  He  was  often  invited  to  Carlton 
House.  The  moral  atmosphere  of  the  place  was  not 
invigorating,  but  it  was  a  distinction  to  go  there,  and  the 
invitation  was  a  requital  of  hospitality.  Mr.  Torrens  tells  an 
incident  which  he  says  Lamb  used  often  to  relate.  On  the 
night  of  Hatfield's  attempt  to  assassinate  the  King  at  Drury 
Lane,  the  Prince  was  dining  at  Melbourne  House.  When 
the  news  came,  Lady  Melbourne  instantly  ordered  her 
carriage,  and  entreated  the  Prince  to  lose  not  a  moment  in 
going  to  the  theatre  to  congratulate  the  King  on  his  escape. 
The  Prince,  who  was  then  on  bad  terms  with  his  father, 
made  excuses,  but  at  last  yielded  and  went,  asking  Lamb 
10  go  with  him.  They  presented  themselves  at  the  royal 
box,  and  a  filial  duty  was  discharged,  thanks  to  Lady 
Melbourne.  The  Prince  could  hardly  have  been  in  closer 
relations  with  Melbourne  House  ;  the  mother  his  hostess, 
the  father  one  of  his  gentlemen-in-waiting,  and  their  son  his 
•  equerry  for  an  hour.' 

At  length  this  gay  interval  was  coming  for  the  time  to 
an  end.  In  1804  Lamb  was  called  to  the  bar,  and  in  good 
company,  one  of  his  companions  being  Mr.  Pepys,  whom 
thirty  years  later  he  was  to  advance  to  the  Woolsack.  The 
careers  of  these  two  men,  who  met  casually  on  one  occasion, 
and  hardly  saw  each  other  again  till  one  of  them  made  the 
other  Lord  Chancellor,  present  a  striking  contrast.  A 
vigorous  outline  of  Pepys's  career  is  given  by  Sir  Denis  Le 
Marchant  in  his  '  Life  of  Lord  Althorp.'  He  was  the  second 
of  three  sons  of  Sir  William  Pepys,  Master  in  Chancery, 
and  one  of  the  Boswellian  circle.     Their  father  educated 


40  LORD    MELBOURNE 

them  at  home  before  sending  them  to  Harrow,  '  instructing 
them  himself,  reading  with  them,  and  sparing  no  efforts  to 
give  them  the  accomplishments  in  which  it  had  been  the 
great  object  of  his  life  to  excel.'  He  succeeded  with  the 
eldest  and  the  youngest,  but  he  could  make  but  little  of  the 
second  boy.  He  was  a  sturdy,  thick-set  fellow,  cold  in 
manners,  blunt  in  speech,  aiming  at  no  distinction,  and  in 
every  way  ill-repaying  his  father's  culture.  He  did  not  show 
one  spark  of  genius.  '  His  dark  searching  eyes,  massive 
forehead,  and  expressive  lips,'  combined  with  '  an  air  of 
independence  and  determination,'  alone  indicated  the  stuff 
of  which  he  was  made.  At  Lincoln's  Inn  he  gave  himself 
up  to  hard  work.  He  studied  and  mastered  everything  that 
bore  on  his  profession,  concentrating  the  whole  force  of  his 
will  and  intellect  on  this  one  aim.  At  the  bar  he  rose 
slowly,  then  fast.  In  course  of  time,  but  not  too  soon,  he 
entered  Parliament,  became  Solicitor-General,  then  Master 
of  the  Rolls,  and  finally,  under  circumstances  which  we  will 
not  anticipate,  accepted  the  Lord  Chancellorship  at  the 
hands  of  his  call-day  companion.  Both  succeeded,  it  need 
not  be  said  in  what  different  ways,  and  it  would  be  invidious 
to  point  the  contrast  too  rigorously. 

The  ice  being  broken,  Lamb  took  the  plunge  and  set 
forth  in  quest  of  clients.  He  chose  the  Northern  circuit, 
and  made  his  first  appearance  in  wig  and  gown  at  the 
Lancashire  sessions.  There  was  a  very  good  reason  for 
his  selecting  the  common  law  side  of  jurisprudence.  He 
had  not  been  a  diligent  student.  His  stock  of  legal  lore  was 
limited,  and  he  took  that  branch  of  the  profession  in  which 
it  could  be  made  to  go  furthest.  A  novice  may  easily 
imagine  that  it  requires  but  little  knowledge  of  law  to  argue 
most  of  the  cases  that  are  brought  before  a  criminal  court. 


WAITING   FOR   THE  TIDE  4 1 

No  very  refined  technicalities  are  likely  to  arise  in  a  trial 
for  murder  or  burglary.  The  great  thing,  it  would  seem, 
is  to  master  the  facts,  to  be  able  to  make  the  most  of  every 
point  which  tells  in  favour  of  your  client,  and  to  present 
the  whole  in  such  a  way  as  shall  be  likely  to  tell  upon  the 
jury.  A  good  voice,  a  knowledge  of  human  nature,  some 
dexterity  in  argument,  and  a  fair  command  of  language 
have  been  held  to  be  the  essentials  of  success,  and  some 
famous  instances  could  be  adduced  in  support  of  the 
theory.  Lamb  might  well  flatter  himself  that  he  possessed 
all  these,  and  that  with  such  experience  as  could  be  picked 
up  in  practice,  he  might  be  able  to  make  a  respectable 
figure.  It  may  be  recorded  for  the  encouragement  of 
nascent  forensic  genius  that  he  did  not  wholly  fail.  He 
got  a  guinea  brief,  his  first  and  only  one.  It  is  said  that 
he  was  indebted  for  it  to  Mr.  Scarlett,  afterwards  Lord 
Abinger,  who  suggested  to  a  Salford  solicitor  that  he  should 
bestow  this  mark  of  confidence  upon  the  coming  man. 
Mr.  Scarlett  had  met  Lamb  in  London,  knew  all  about 
him,  and  may  well  have  been  as  favourably  impressed  with 
his  talents  as  others  were.  Forensic  advocacy  was  perhaps 
the  line  in  which  Lamb  might  fairly  hope  to  excel.  The 
chief  danger  was  that  the  point  and  sparkle  of  his  conver- 
sation would  disappear  when  he  came  to  face  a  jury.  It 
was  an  odd  choice  that  took  him  down  to  Lancashire,  where 
he  was  unknown,  and  where  the  dialect,  which  could  not  be 
excluded  from  the  witness  box,  must  have  been  almost  un- 
intelligible to  a  fine  gentleman  who  had  never  strayed  far 
from  Pall  Mall.  The  Home  circuit  would  have  seemed 
preferable.  Perhaps  the  experiment  was  not  meant  to  be 
made  in  serious  earnest,  and  he  may  have  thought  that  as  a 
breakdown  was  possible,  the  further  it  was  made  from  home 


42  LORD  MELBOURNE 

the  better.  How  it  would  have  finally  fared  with  the 
common-law  crusader  the  world  will  never  know.  At  this 
time  two  events  happened  which  fixed  him  permanently  in 
London,  and  decided  his  career. 

The  first  of  these  events  was  that  he  had  fallen  in  love. 
Considering  the  social  influences  to  which  he  had  been  ex- 
posed, it  speaks  well  for  him  that  he  was  not  invulnerable  to 
the  charms  of  an  honest  attachment.  Probably  he  became 
entangled  in  the  meshes  before  he  was  aware,  but  this 
would  only  be  another  proof  in  his  favour,  since  it  would 
show  that  his  heart  was  unsophisticated  by  the  ways  of  the 
world,  and  lay  freely  open  to  nature.  It  is  certain  that  his 
feelings  were  engaged  before  prudence  would  have  coun- 
selled or  sanctioned  matrimony,  but  here  he  had  a  safe- 
guard in  others  who  would  not  fail  to  make  his  retreat  easy. 
The  lady  who  was  to  share  and,  as  the  event  proved,  to 
sadly  chequer  his  life,  was  Caroline  Ponsonby,  daughter  of 
the  third  Earl  of  Bessborough.  Her  mother  was  daughter 
of  the  first  Earl  Spencer,  another  of  whose  daughters, 
Georgiana,  was  married  to  the  fifth  Duke  of  Devonshire, 
and  has  been  known  ever  since  as  the  '  beautiful  Duchess.' 
Lord  Bessborough  had  a  house  at  Roehampton,  and  it  was 
there  that  Lamb  met  Lady  Caroline.  She  was  then  nine- 
teen years  of  age,  had  the  charm  of  sprightliness  derived 
from  an  extreme  naturalness  of  manners,  and  was  of  a 
character  in  some  respects  unique.  In  her  letters  to  Lady 
Morgan,  at  a  later  period  one  of  her  most  intimate  friends, 
Lady  Caroline  gives  a  vivid  portraiture  of  what  she  was,  or 
imagined  herself  to  have  been,  in  her  youthful  years.  It 
should,  however,  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  recollections 
were  written  down  in  the  light  of  a  rather  fitful  memory, 
and  were  probably  exaggerated.     Some  years  of  her  child- 


WAITING  FOR  THE  TIDE  43 

hood  were  spent  in  Italy,  where  her  mother  was  residing  on 
account  of  infirm  health.  On  returning  from  Italy,  she 
went  to  live  with  her  aunt,  the  Duchess  of  Devonshire. 
'  Her  account,'  says  Mr.  Torrens,  '  of  life  in  the  nursery  is 
curious.  The  children  saw  little  of  their  parents  ;  were 
served  on  silver  in  the  morning,  and  allowed  to  carry  their 
plates  to  the  kitchen  in  quest  of  the  dainties  they  longed 
for.  Their  ignorance  was  profound.  They  imagined  that 
all  people  were  either  nobles  or  paupers,  and  that  for  the 
rich  there  was  no  end  of  money.'  It  would  appear  that 
the  pictures  given  us  of  the  old  French  noblesse  before  the 
Revolution  had  a  pretty  exact  counterpart  at  home.  '  We 
had  no  idea,'  writes  Lady  Caroline,  '  that  bread  or  butter 
was  made ;  how  it  came  we  did  not  pause  to  think,  but 
had  no  doubt  that  fine  horses  must  be  fed  on  beef.  At 
ten  years  old  I  could  not  write.  My  cousin  Hartington 
loved  me  better  than  himself,  and  every  one  paid  me  com- 
pliments shown  to  children  likely  to  die.  I  wrote  not, 
spelt  not,  but  made  verses  which  they  all  thought  beautiful. 
For  myself  I  preferred  washing  a  dog,  or  polishing  a  piece 
of  Derbyshire  spar,  or  breaking  in  a  horse  if  they  would  let 
me.' 

When  ten  years  old  Lady  Caroline  was  transferred  to  the 
care  of  her  maternal  grandmother,  wife  of  the  first  Earl 
Spencer.  Lord  Althorp,  in  the  fragment  of  autobiography 
prefixed  to  his  memoirs,  gives  no  very  agreeable  impression 
of  this  lady,  to  whom  he  stood  in  the  same  relation.  He 
describes  her  as  a  woman  who  '  did  not  possess  naturally 
any  quickness  of  understanding '  nor  sterling  good  sense, 
but '  she  had  taken  great  pains  with  herself,  had  read  a  great 
deal,  and,  though  far  from  brilliant  in  conversation,  had 
lived  in  the  society  of  clever  people.     This  gave  her  a 


44  LORD   MELBOURNE 

reputation  for  ability  to  which  she  was  not  entitled.'  Sir 
Denis  Le  Marchant  prints  from  a  manuscript  letter  of 
Mrs.  Delany's  an  amusing  accouut  of  Lady  Spencer's 
marriage.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Poyntz,  sometime 
minister  plenipotentiary  in  Sweden,  and  an  attachment  had 
sprung  up  between  her  and  Mr.  Spencer,  the  future  first 
Earl,  who  was  then  a  minor.  A  large  party  assembled  at 
Althorp  to  celebrate  his  coming  of  age,  among  whom  were 
Mr.  Poyntz  and  his  daughter.  When  the  day  came  Mr. 
Spencer  told  Mr.  Poyntz  that  he  had  determined  to  make 
Miss  Poyntz  his  wife  as  soon  as  he  was  master  of  himself, 
and  begged  that  they  might  be  married  the  next  day.  His 
request  was  granted,  and  though  fifty  people  were  in  the 
house,  none  knew  anything  of  the  matter  except  Lord  and 
Lady  Cowper,  Mrs.  Poyntz,  and  her  eldest  son.  Accordingly, 
after  tea  the  parties  necessary  to  the  wedding  stole  away 
from  the  company  to  Lady  Cowper's  dressing-room,  where 
the  ceremony  was  performed,  and  then  rejoined  the  dancing. 
'  After  supper  everybody  retired  as  usual  to  their  different 
apartments.  Miss  Poyntz  and  her  sister  lay  from  their  first 
going  to  Althorp  in  the  best  apartments,  and  Miss  Louisa 
resigned  her  place  on  this  occasion.'  Her  bridal  outfit  lost 
nothing  in  splendour  by  being  post-nuptial.  The  dress  in 
which  she  went  to  court  was  of  the  most  sumptuous 
description,  and  her  diamonds  were  worth  12,000/.  It 
should  be  added  as  some  counterpoise  to  the  disparaging 
remarks  of  her  grandson,  that  competent  judges,  one  of 
whom  was  David  Garrick,  spoke  in  glowing  terms  of  her 
conversational  powers,  and  that  the  years  of  her  widowhood 
were  employed  in  works  of  benevolence.  She  was,  says 
Sir  Denis  Le  Marchant,  one  of  the  first  among  the  higher 
classes  to  take  an  interest  in  Sunday  schools.     The  philan- 


WAITING   FOR   THE   TIDE  45 

thropic  Mrs.  Trimmer,  to  whom  we  have  seen  Lamb 
comparing  one  of  the  Glasgow  Miss  Millars,  was  her 
frequent  guest  and  a  most  attached  friend. 

Such    was    the    relative     with    whom    Lady   Caroline 
Ponsonby  chiefly  lived  after  reaching  the  age  of  ten.     The 
romantic  marriage  just  described  may  perhaps  suggest  the 
idea  of  reversionary  types  of  character.     The  scene  in  Lady 
Cowper's   dressing-room  at  Althorp  has  its  counterpart  in 
much  that  afterwards  happened  at  Brocket  and  Melbourne 
House.     In  spite  of  the  disadvantages  of  her  early  training 
Lady  Caroline  became  the  mistress  of  many  accomplish- 
ments.    She   acquired   French  and  Italian,  ventured  even 
upon  Greek  and  Latin,  and  had  the  further  courage,  Mr. 
Torrens   tells   us,    to   undertake   the  recital  of  an  ode  of 
Sappho.     She  could  draw  and  paint,  and  had  the  instinct 
of  caricature.     Her  mind  was  brimming  with  romance,  and 
regardless  of  conventionality  she  followed  her  own  tastes  in 
everything.     In  conversation  she  had  the  vivacity  and  grace 
which  Garrick  admired  in  her  grandmother,  and  where  such 
qualities  were  present  there  must  have  been  something  like 
wit.     It  is  not  surprising  that  William  Lamb  should  have 
found  himself  the  slave  of  her  attractions,  or  should  have 
felt  the   bondage   too   delightful    to    have   any   desire   to 
escape  from  it.     Nor  is  it  more  surprising  that  the  lady 
should  have  been  drawn  to  William  Lamb,  and  met  him,  as 
it   almost   seems   she  did,  half  way.     Their  natures  were 
sympathetic.     Quick  susceptibility  was  the  characteristic  of 
both.     It  is  enough  to  look  at  his  portrait  to  know  that  he 
was  handsome.     There  is,  moreover,  a  suppressed  glow  in 
the  features   which   tells  of  passion  beneath.     They  were 
perhaps  too  much  alike  for  happiness.     The  complimentary 
elements   were   wanting   on    both   sides.      A   kind,   good, 


46  LORD  MELBOURNE 

matter-of-fact  woman,  with  plenty  of  common  sense  and  a 
sturdy  understanding,  would  have  suited  him  better.  He 
had  too  much  romance  of  his  own  and  needed  no  accession 
to  the  stock.  The  meeting  of  two  such  aerial  forms  in  the 
summer  sky  might  mean  lightning  and  thunder  some  day. 
Happily,  or  unhappily,  the  future  was  hidden  from  their 
view  and  it  was  enough  to  taste  the  blessedness  of  the  hour. 
Their  mutual  preference  took  no  account  for  the  present  of 
matrimony.  There  were  obstacles  in  the  way  which  others 
would  see  if  they  did  not.  Lamb  was  a  younger  son  and 
had  no  means  for  setting  up  an  adequate  establishment. 
His  immediate  business  was  to  contrive  some  way  ot 
keeping  himself,  and  his  guinea  brief  at  Salford,  though 
gratifying  as  his  first  retainer,  fell  rather  short  of  a  full 
assurance  of  fortune. 

At  this  moment  that  other  event  happened  which  helped 
to  determine  his  career.  His  elder  brother  died,  and  his 
prospects  changed  at  once.  He  was  no  longer  a  younger 
son,  but  heir  to  the  title  and  estates,  with  the  duty  of  main- 
taining the  position  and  reputation  of  the  family.  His 
father  was  inconsolable.  The  clever  bright  youth  who 
would  now  succeed  could  be  no  adequate  substitute  with 
him  for  the  son  he  had  lost.  He  seems  to  have  acted 
unreasonably.  He  was  intractable  on  the  question  of  an 
allowance.  His  son  Peniston  had  had  5,000/.  a  year,  but 
for  his  son  William,  who  stepped  into  the  vacant  place  and 
had  the  same  claims,  he  would  only  go  as  far  as  2,000/. 
Judges  of  aristocratic  economics  will  be  able  to  determine 
how  far  this  sum  fell  below  the  proper  standard.  It  would 
be  fair  perhaps  to  say  that  Lord  Melbourne  best  knew  his 
own  business,  and  that  he  may  have  been  influenced  by 
reasons  which  had  nothing  to  do  with  paternal  affection. 


WAITING  FOR  THE  TIDE  47 

It  was  one  thing  to  reduce  an  allowance  which  had  been 
long  enjoyed,  and  another  to  fix  upon  the  sum  which  should 
be  given  where  there  was  still  entire  freedom  to  arrange 
the  scale  of  future  expenditure.  There  had  been  thirty  years 
of  lavish  disbursement  at  Melbourne  House,  and  the  million 
with  which  the  start  was  made,  though  large,  was  not  an 
exhaustless  treasure.  At  any  rate,  with  the  diminished 
allowance  Lamb  had  to  be  content.  He  was  sure  of  free 
quarters  while  his  mother  lived.  The  Melbourne  family  had 
several  mansions,  and  one  of  them  could  always  be  spared 
for  him.  He  was  now  free  to  think  more  seriously  of  Lady 
Caroline.  If  not  rich  at  present,  he  had  expectations  which 
might  well  be  held  to  make  up  the  deficiency.  He  was  not 
about  to  marry  a  woman  with  an  enormous  dower,  but  she 
would  bring  with  her  riches  of  another  kind,  a  connection 
with  some  of  the  greatest  and  noblest  families  in  the  land. 

So  matters  were  soon  arranged,  and  Lamb  was  married 
to  Lady  Caroline  Ponsonby.  On  the  same  day  another 
marriage  took  place  which  must  have  been  infinitely  agree- 
able to  Lady  Melbourne.  Emily,  the  daughter  of  the 
house,  bestowed  her  hand  upon  Earl  Cowper,  one  of  the 
richest  landowners  in  Hertfordshire,  and  a  near  neighbour 
at  Brocket.  The  earldom  was  not  of  ancient  date,  but  it 
was  at  any  rate  a  century  old,  and  had  lately  gathered 
around  it  more  imposing  ancestral  honours.  As  the  sole 
representative  of  the  Princes  and  Counts  of  Nassau 
dAuverquerque,  his  father  had  been  created  a  Prince  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  and  had  obtained  permission  of 
George  III.  to  accept  the  title.  The  marriage  to  which  he 
owed  this  elevation  also  connected  him  by  descent  with  the 
ancient  house  of  Butler,  and  added  an  Irish  and  a  Scotch 
barony  to  his  other  distinctions.     These  honours  descended 


48  LORD    MELBOURNE 

to  his  son,  who  now  became  the  son-in-law  01  Lady 
Melbourne.  The  heroine  who  had  fought  in  the  van  of  the 
amily  fortunes  for  more  than  thirty  years  had  at  last 
realised  some  of  her  ambitious  dreams.  The  sumptuous 
hospitalities  of  Melbourne  House  and  the  million  which 
penurious  placemen  and  lawyers  and  bishops  had  slowly 
heaped  together,  had  not  been  lavished  wholly  in  vain. 


CHAPTER   IV 

POLITICAL   LAND-SURVEYING 

William  Lamb  in  Parliament — The  men  he  found  there — Pitt  and  Fox 
— Family  connections — Lord  Althorp — William  Huskisson — Quick 
fate  of  'All  the  Talents' — Lamb  moves  the  Address — A  Constitu- 
tional question  raised — Lamb  stands  by  the  Constitution— Veers 
towards  administrative  Radicalism — The  Duke  of  York  scandal — 
The  Regency — The  '  rising  sun'  will  surely  shine  upon  us — Not  at 
all :  has  no  predilections — Lamb  loses  his  seat  and  is  adrift. 

Lamb  entered  Parliament  in  1805  as  member  for  Leo- 
minster. His  election  being  simply  a  commercial  trans- 
action, needing  only  a  cheque  upon  his  father's  bankers,  he 
did  not  take  the  trouble  to  present  himself  to  his  constitu- 
ents, who  having  the  grace  of  their  condition  were  willing 
enough  to  take  him  on  trust.  While  he  and  his  bride  were 
spending  their  honeymoon  at  Brocket,  great  events  were 
happening.  The  army  which  had  been  threatening  our 
shores  with  invasion  was  on  its  victorious  march  to  Ulm 
and  Vienna.  It  was  the  year  of  Trafalgar  and  Austerlitz  ; 
it  was  also  the  last  of  Pitt's  career.  The  statesman  who  had 
grasped  the  helm  a  second  time  did  not  weather  the  storm 
which  his  policy  helped  to  create.  His  death  on  the  23rd 
of  the  following  January  brought  with  it  a  notable  change  in 
the  position  of  English  parties,  and  soon  after  Lamb  took 
his  seat  in  the  House  his  political  friends  were  in  power. 
What  his  political  principles  were  at  this  time,  or  whether 


50  LORD  MELBOURNE 

he  had  any,  it  would  hardly  repay  us  to  inquire.  His 
politics  for  some  years  to  come  must  not  be  taken  too 
seriously.  He  had  been  bred  up  in  admiration  of  Mr.  Fox, 
who  was  still  a  frequent  guest  at  Melbourne  House,  and  the 
social  element  had  so  far  been  a  dominating  force  in  the 
formation  of  his  opinions.  The  influence  of  Carlton  House 
was  on  the  same  side.  The  Prince  of  Wales  was  at  variance 
with  the  King,  the  Whigs  were  opposed  to  the  policy  of  the 
Court,  and  common  enmities  were  supposed  to  bind  them 
together.  From  its  very  nature  the  tie  was  not  strong 
enough  to  last  long,  and  the  expectations  it  seemed  to  justify 
were  doomed  to  be  disappointed,  but  for  the  present  the 
Whigs  consoled  themselves  with  the  belief  that  the  future 
had  blessings  in  store  for  them,  and  they  made  the  most  of 
the  beams  of  the  rising  sun. 

In  the  meantime,  whatever  the  future  might  bring  with 
it,  the  King  had  been  forced  to  stifle  a  long-cherished 
resentment  and  to  admit  Mr.  Fox  to  his  counsels.  For 
twenty  years  he  had  kept  him  at  arm's  length.  Again  and 
again  he  had  vowed  never  more  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
a  man  whom  he  regarded  as  a  Jacobin  and  a  profligate,  the 
two  names  comprising  the  sum  of  all  wickedness.  The 
King's  estimate  of  moral  obliquity  in  any  particular  case 
was  not  altogether  unaffected  by  the  politics  of  the  sinner, 
and  Fox  had  done  nothing  to  induce  any  voluntary  blind- 
ness to  his  defects.  But  the  death  of  Pitt  left  the  King  in 
a  quandary.  The  one  strong  man  was  gone,  and  no  other 
member  of  the  Government  had  any  pretension  to  take  his 
place.  There  were  fairly  strong  men  outside,  and  it  was 
necessary  to  call  them  in,  if  only  to  inspire  the  nation  with 
some  confidence  in  its  rulers.  The  King  would  have  been 
glad  to  take  Lord  Grenville  and  Mr.  Grey  and  one  or  two 


POLITICAL   LAND-SURVEYING  5  I 

more  without  Fox,  but  they  refused  to  leave  him  outside, 
and  the  King  had  to  take  them  all.  Fox's  interview  in  the 
royal  closet  on  accepting  his  appointment  would  have  been 
a  scene  for  a  painter.  '  Mr.  Fox,'  said  the  King,  '  I  little 
thought  that  you  and  I  should  ever  meet  again  in  this 
place,  but  I  have  no  desire  to  look  back  upon  old  griev- 
ances, and  you  may  rest  assured  I  never  shall  remind  you 
of  them.'  '  My  deeds,  and  not  my  words,'  rejoined  Mr.  Fox, 
'  shall  commend  me  to  your  Majesty.'  This  was  in  Febru- 
ary ;  in  September  he  followed  his  rival  to  the  grave.  He 
lived  long  enough  to  clear  his  conscience  as  Foreign 
Minister,  charged  with  the  conduct  of  a  war  which  he  had 
condemned,  by  opening  negotiations  with  Bonaparte,  in  a 
despairing  hope  that  they  might  lead  to  a  peaceful  result. 
"When  they  failed  his  colleagues  found  their  way  clear  ; 
they  could  carry  on  the  struggle  without  inconsistency. 

This  is  not  a  time  at  which  one  would  choose  to  intro- 
duce into  the  memoirs  of  a  man  who  left  us  nearly  fifty  years 
ago,  any  allusion  to  what  is  now  known  as  the  Irish  ques- 
tion. But  it  must  be  remembered  that  we  are  standing 
close  to  the  period  at  which  that  question  in  its  modern 
form  first  arose,  that  is,  within  six  years  after  the  passing  of 
the  Act  of  Union.  It  is  a  fact  which  cannot  be  dispensed 
with.  The  Irish  question  will  be  found  running  like  a  dark 
thread  through  the  whole  history  of  successive  administra- 
tions from  then  till  now.  The  events  we  shall  have  to 
record  as  those  in  which  Lamb  took  an  increasingly  active 
part,  will  be  unintelligible  unless  we  recognise  this  guiding 
clue  and  keep  it  always  in  sight.  The  chief  point  to  be 
borne  in  mind  is  that,  in  the  view  of  Pitt,  Catholic  Emanci- 
pation was  the  necessary  complement  of  the  Act  of  Union. 
It  was  the  consideration  for  which  the  Catholics  of  Ireland 

E  2 


52  LORD   MELBOURNE 

had  given  at  any  rate  some  partial  assent  to  that  important 
measure,  and  to  refuse  to  pay  down  the  stipulated  price 
after  the  bargain  was  completed  amounted  to  a  flagrant 
and  fatal  breach  of  faith.  Pitt  resigned  in  1801  on  the 
King's  refusal  to  sanction  the  introduction  of  a  Bill  dealing 
with  the  Catholic  claims.  He  threw  up  his  post  at  a  critical 
moment  in  the  midst  of  a  great  war,  so  imperative  did  he 
feel  to  be  the  obligations  he  had  incurred.  Unfortunately 
he  agreed  to  waive  them  three  years  later  when  he  resumed 
office,  and  on  his  death  this  waiver,  at  least  in  part,  was 
accepted  as  a  legacy  by  his  successors.  Their  determination 
not  to  accept  it  fully  was  the  rock  on  which  they  foundered 
after  only  a  twelvemonth's  voyage. 

These  successors  of  Pitt  were  the  famous  ministry  known 
by  the  nickname  of  All  the  Talents.  At  its  head  was  Lord 
Grenville,  whom  at  a  time  when  obscure  celebrities  are  apt 
to  be  forgotten  it  may  be  useful  to  identify  as  the  nephew 
of  Hester  Grenville,  wife  of  the  great  Earl  of  Chatham,  and 
brother  of  the  Marquis  of  Buckingham,  whose  grandson,  the 
Duke  of  the  same  name,  fell  into  the  hands  of  his  creditors 
some  forty  years  ago.  Fox,  as  has  been  said,  was  at  the 
Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Lord  Henry  Petty,  afterwards 
known  to  us  as  Lord  Lansdowne,  was  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  Henry  Erskine,  the  intrepid  defender  of  Hardy 
and  Home  Tooke,  Lord  Chancellor,  Mr.  Gray,  presently  to 
become  Lord  Howick  and  then  Earl  Grey,  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty,  and  Lord  Spencer,  father  of  Lord  Althorp,  at  the 
Home  Office.  Sheridan  must  not  be  forgotten.  He  was 
Treasurer  of  the  Navy,  and  probably  found  in  his  depart- 
ment, though  hardly  fit  for  the  drama,  another  '  School  for 
Scandal.'  Among  them  also  was  Lord  Sidmouth,  who,  as 
Mr.   Addington,  filled  up   the  short  interregnum  between 


POLITICAL   LAND-SURVEYING  53 

Pitt's  two  administrations,  the  uncompromising  Tory  of  the 
'  Peterloo '  days,  and  the  author  of  the  Six  Acts,  whose 
fame  or  infamy  still  endures.  It  was  a  brilliant  turn-out. 
The  '  Talents '  were  all  there.  Several  of  the  men  who  were 
to  play  a  leading  part  in  the  politics  of  a  later  day  then  took 
their  seats  in  the  saddle.  To  the  country  it  was  a  rather 
strange  spectacle,  and  the  satires  and  squibs  t  called 
forth,  as  they  lingered  on  provincial  book-shelves,  may  have 
been  met  with  in  their  earlier  days  by  persons  still  living. 
But  the  ministry  carried  within  itself  the  sentence  of  disso- 
lution. It  fell  as  suddenly  as  it  arose,  and  it  had  the  ill- 
fortune  to  leave  behind  it  a  name  which  has  barely  escaped 
being  held  ridiculous. 

These  are  the  statesmen  and  politicians  whom  William 
Lamb  soon  found  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Speaker  on  enter- 
ing the  House  of  Commons.  He  would  have  taken  his  seat 
among  them  or  behind  them  on  whichever  side  they  hap- 
pened to  sit,  but  he  doubtless  did  so  with  all  the  greater 
pleasure,  because  in  following  his  own  inclinations,  or 
rather  in  obeying  the  natural  law  of  his  political  existence, 
he  was  placed  not  far  from  the  Treasury  Bench.  He  was 
in  the  midst  of  friends,  many  of  them  his  immediate  con- 
nections. Mr.  Grey  had  married  a  Ponsonby,  one  of  his 
wife's  relatives  ;  Mr.  G.  Ponsonby,  another  relative,  and 
brother-in-law  to  Mr.  Grey,  was  Chancellor  of  Ireland  ; 
Earl  Spencer  was  her  uncle  ;  Mr.  Fox,  the  leader  of  the 
House,  had  known  him  from  a  child,  had  snatched  his 
college  oration  from  oblivion,  and  had  just  introduced  him 
at  Brooks's,  the  social  gathering-place  of  the  Whig  party 
Other  relationships  are  discoverable  were  it  worth  while  to 
search  them  out.  '  The  Whigs,'  Lamb  himself  once  said, 
with  the  usual  decorative  epithet,  'are  all  cousins.'     It  was 


54  LORD   MELBOURNE 

true  not  of  the  Whigs  only,  though  in  them  perhaps  the 
clannish  instinct  was  most  strongly  developed.  Family 
connection  played  a  great  part  in  every  political  combina- 
tion. Blood  was  thicker  than  water,  and  they  helped  each 
other  on.  Hence  it  had  happened  that  for  more  than  a 
century  the  government  of  the  country  was  the  appanage  of 
a  few  great  families,  and  a  change  of  administration  gene 
rally  meant  little  more  than  the  transfer  of  power  from  one 
set  of  cousins  to  another.  At  his  first  start  in  politics 
Lamb  had  the  full  advantage  of  this  arrangement.  There 
were  persons  who  took  some  interest  in  looking  after  him. 
But  for  this  circumstance  perhaps  he  would  have  sunk 
beneath  the  seething  waters,  and  been  heard  of  no  more. 

There  are  one  or  two  men  whose  political  fortunes  were 
afterwards  closely  linked  with  his  own,  and  who  entered 
with  him  now  for  the  first  time  into  public  life,  of  whom  a 
few  words  should  be  said.  Among  them  the  first  place  is 
due  to  Lord  Althorp.  He  entered  Parliament  the  year 
before  Lamb  as  member  for  Okehampton,  and  on  his 
father's  appointment  to  the  Home  Office  in  the  ministry  of 
All  the  Talents,  he  was  made  by  way  of  compliment  a 
junior  Lord  of  the  Treasury.  It  was  an  honour  for  which 
he  rendered  no  thanks.  He  abhorred  public  life ;  his 
tastes  lay  in  the  fields  with  his  horses  and  hounds  ;  but  he 
took  up  with  a  parliamentary  career  as  a  duty  which  he  had 
to  discharge,  and  we  have  since  known  how  well  he  dis- 
charged it.  Earl  Spencer  was  one  of  the  old  Whigs  who 
went  off  with  Mr.  Burke  and  became  a  Tory.  He  bred  up 
his  son  in  his  new  opinions.  When  Lord  Althorp  went  to 
Harrow  his  mother  cautioned  him  to  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  Whigs  ;  but,  without  intending  it,  he  disregarded 
her  advice,  and  became  very  intimate  with  those  who  came 


POLITICAL  LAND-SURVEYING  55 

in  his  way,  finding  them  the  pleasantest  companions.  The 
truth  is  he  was  a  born  Liberal.  His  strong  and  manly- 
nature  could  brook  no  exclusiveness,  and  ranged  him  always 
on  the  side  of  progress.  His  talents  were  not  of  a  high 
order,  but  he  could  work  hard  when  he  liked,  and  when  he 
did  he  succeeded.  To  please  his  mother  he  toiled  during 
his  second  year  at  college  and  came  out  first  in  the  ex- 
aminations, but  the  extraordinary  virtue  thus  displayed 
demanded  some  recompense.  The  last  year  he  almost 
lived  on  the  race -course,  accumulating  debts  to  the  amount 
of  some  thousands,  which  his  father  had  to  borrow  money 
to  pay  off.  He  had  an  almost  reverent  respect  for  the 
distinguished  pugilists  of  his  day.  He  kept  a  record  of 
every  shot  he  fired  and  of  every  race  he  ran  with  the 
hounds,  including  the  most  minute  particulars,  thus  form- 
ing in  the  course  of  years  a  considerable  library  of  quartos, 
which  are  religiously  preserved  at  Althorp  House.  One 
would  have  said  that  these  were  not  very  promising  begin- 
nings for  a  legislator.  It  might  have  been  difficult  to  see 
in  them  the  earnest  of  a  future  leader  of  the  House  of 
Commons  who  could  have  had  the  premiership  if  he  would 
have  taken  it.  But  he  had  within  him  a  pearl  of  great 
price.  He  had  a  conscience  which  no  sophistry  could  spoil, 
an  honesty  which  was  proof  against  all  temptation,  and  a 
sturdy  independence  which  scorned  whatever  might  seem 
intended  to  turn  him  from  the  straight  path.  He  became 
the  ruler  of  his  party  and  the  most  trusted  of  politicians 
by  no  other  force  than  the  force  of  character,  the  noblest 
triumph  perhaps  that  a  man  can  win. 

William  Huskisson  was  another  of  Lamb's  personal 
connections  with  whom  we  should  become  at  once  ac- 
quainted.    He  is  best  known  now  for  the  tariff  reforms 


56  LORD    MELBOURNE 

which   were   carried   out   seventeen   years   later   when   he 
became  President  of  the  Board   of  Trade  ;   but  he  had 
already   acquired    much   administrative   experience.      His 
political  career  was  an  afterthought,  and  the   success   he 
achieved  in  it  was  due  exclusively  to  his  personal  talents. 
He  was  born  at  Birch  Moreton,  Worcestershire,  in  1770, 
and  was  therefore   Lamb's  senior  by  nine  years.     Part  of 
his  early  education  was  received  in  Paris,  whither  he  went 
some  years  later  to  study  medicine.     As  a  student  he  took 
a  lively  interest  in  the  earlier  scenes  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, and  was  present  at  the  capture  of  the  Bastile.     Lord 
Gower  was  then  our  ambassador  in  Paris.     Happening  to 
meet  with  Huskisson  he  was  impressed  by  his  talents,  and 
prevailed  upon  him  to  become  his  private  secretary.     The 
knowledge  he  acquired  in  this  capacity  led  to  his  being 
employed  on  his  return  to  London  in  superintending  the 
enforcement  of  the  Alien  Act,   and  the  diligence  he  dis- 
played made  way  for  further  promotion.     At  the  age  of 
twenty-six  he  became  Under  Secretary  for  War  and  the 
Colonies,  and  in  Pitt's  second  administration  he  held  the 
office  of  Secretary  for  the  Treasury.     Between  him  and  Pitt 
there  was  entire  sympathy  on  questions  of  trade,  as  there 
was  then  and  in  after   years  between  him  and  Canning. 
He  was  soon  regarded  as  an  indispensable  man  in  matters 
of  finance,  and  his  superior  knowledge  made  him  a  thorn 
in  the  side  of  the  ministry  of  All  the  Talents.     The  financial 
measures  of  the  new  ministry  laid  them  open  to  criticism, 
and  Huskisson  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity.     His 
marriage  in  1 799with  the  daughter  of  Admiral  Milbanke,  Lady 
Melbourne's  uncle,  brought  him  often  to  Melbourne  House. 
His  wide  knowledge  and  the  practical  bent  of  his  mind  would 
have  made  him  an  admirable  guide  for  Lamb,  but  he  lacked 


POLITICAL  LAND-SURVEYING  57 

the  touch  of  saving  grace.  He  was  not  versed  in  the  ways 
of  society,  and  he  had  awkward  manners.  He  could  even 
blush  and  get  embarrassed  in  fine  company.  His  reputation 
outshone  this  cloud  when  he  became  a  Cabinet  minister. 
The  diamond  in  the  rough  was  then  admitted  to  be  a 
diamond  after  all. 

On  the  death  of  Mr.  Fox,  Mr.  Grey,  now  Lord  Howick, 
became  Foreign  Minister  and  leader  of  the  House.  It  was 
natural  that  he  should  put  forward  his  young  relative  to 
move  the  address  in  reply  to  the  speech  from  the  throne. 
The  speech  which  Lamb  delivered  on  that  occasion  has  not 
been  preserved  beyond  a  few  lines.  He  remarked  in  this 
maiden  effort  that  we  had  but  two  allies  left  in  Europe  ; 
nevertheless  he  hoped  and  believed  that  the  spirit  of  the 
country  would  not  repine  at  the  burdens  and  sacrifices  that 
would  be  necessary  to  maintain  our  attitude  of  national 
resistance.  The  internal  condition  of  the  realm  was,  he 
said,  prosperous  and  tranquil  ;  all  classes  were  contented, 
and  our  commerce  flourishing.  This  might  be  described  as 
drawing  the  long  bow,  but  such  liberties  are  permitted  to  a 
new  member  on  moving  the  address.  He  had  the  honour 
to  be  followed  by  Mr.  Canning,  who  moved  as  an  amend- 
ment a  counter-address,  rivalling  the  ministerial  one  in  pro- 
fessions of  loyalty  and  devotion,  but  intimating  that  recent 
successes  had  been  won  '  notwithstanding  the  apparent 
inactivity  of  ministers.'  It  was  a  mere  show  of  fighting,  the 
Opposition  did  not  care  to  go  to  a  division,  and  the  amend- 
ment was  withdrawn. 

A  more  serious  question  soon  came  to  the  front. 
Though  Catholic  Emancipation  was  a  forbidden  thing,  not 
even  to  be  mentioned  in  the  King's  presence,  ministers  felt 
that  they  owed  something  to  the  Catholics  as  well  as  to 


58  LORD   MELBOURNE 

their  own  principles.  Accordingly  they  brought  in  a  Bill 
enabling  His  Majesty  to  grant  commissions  in  the  army  to 
dissenters  from  the  Established  Church.  Lord  Howick, 
who  had  charge  of  the  measure,  explained  it  to  the  King 
before  producing  it  to  the  House,  and  obtained  his  pro- 
visional assent.  But  there  were  traitors  in  the  Cabinet, 
there  were  whisperings  and  intrigues,  the  King's  conscience 
became  alarmed,  and  he  told  his  ministers  that  the  Bill 
must  be  dropped,  alleging  that  he  had  not  fully  understood 
the  extent  of  its  proposed  concessions.  The  Cabinet  showed 
the  white  feather,  and  agreed  to  withdraw  the  Bill.  But 
they  had  deceived  themselves  as  to  his  Majesty's  wishes. 
He  wanted  to  get  rid  of  them  as  well  as  of  the  Bill,  and  for 
that  purpose  he  imposed  upon  them  a  further  test.  He 
required  from  them  a  written  and  positive  engagement  never 
under  any  circumstances  to  propose  in  the  closet  any 
measure  of  concession  to  the  Catholics,  or  anything  even 
connected  with  the  Catholic  question.  This  was  more  than 
could  be  endured,  but  perhaps  not  more  than  they  deserved. 
They  had  forgotten  what  was  due  to  themselves  as  ministers 
of  the  Crown,  and  retribution  quickly  followed.  They'were 
obliged  to  resign.  '  All  the  Talents  '  melted  into  thin  air, 
and  the  opposition  took  their  places,  with  the  Duke  of 
Portland  as  Prime  Minister. 

A  serious  constitutional  question  was  now  raised  which 
afforded  Lamb  an  opportunity  for  wielding  the  controversial 
weapons  that  had  been  so  industriously  burnished  up  in  the 
Debating  Club  of  Glasgow  University.  The  post  of  honour 
fell  to  Mr.  Brand,  who  moved  that  '  it  is  contrary  to  the 
first  duty  of  the  confidential  servants  of  the  Crown  to 
restrain  themselves  by  any  pledge,  expressed  or  implied, 
from  offering  the   King   any  advice  which  the   course  of 


POLITICAL  LAND-SURVEYING  59 

circumstances  may  render  necessary  for  the  welfare  and 
service  of  the  empire.'  Lamb  seconded  the  motion  in  a 
speech  of  which  one  solid  fragment  is  preserved.  Its 
solidity  is  apparent  in  the  two  opening  sentences.  'The 
constitution  of  this  realm,'  he  said,  'required  that  the  King 
in  exercising  the  functions  of  government  should  take  the 
advice  of  the  two  great  councils  of  the  nation — the  Houses 
of  Lords  and  Commons.  But  the  slow  progress  as  well  as 
the  publicity  of  their  deliberations  would  in  many  instances 
destroy  that  secrecy  and  interfere  with  that  promptitude  and 
despatch  so  often  necessary  to  the  success  of  the  measures 
of  the  government.'  This  extract  will  suffice.  We  see 
whither  our  orator  is  tending.  From  this  point  it  is  easy  to 
jump  to  the  end  of  the  argument,  after  first  demurring 
perhaps  to  the  statement  about  '  two  great  councils  of  the 
nation.'  The  resolution  was  in  fact  slightly  irrelevant.  It 
might  be  unconstitutional  for  ministers  to  give  such  a 
pledge,  but  they  had  not  given  it.  The  King  had  required 
it,  and  the  question  which  really  arose  was  whether  the 
King  could  constitutionally  make  such  a  demand — a  ques- 
tion which  it  was  hardly  constitutional  to  discuss.  Mr. 
Canning  saw  this  and  founded  his  speech  upon  it,  winding 
up  by  saying  that  '  even  if  His  Majesty  should  be  condemned 
at  the  bar  of  that  House,  it  was  still  some  consolation  that 
from  that  sentence  an  appeal  lay  to  the  people,  which  under 
certain  circumstances  he  should  deem  it  his  duty  to  make.' 
There  was  no  need  for  such  an  appeal.  The  motion  was 
rejected  by  258  votes  to  226.  Lamb  remarks  in  his  diary 
upon  the  extraordinary  change  which  had  occurred  since 
the  Easter  recess.  Before  it,  when  the  new  ministers  were 
in  opposition,  they  could  rarely  muster  more  than  sixty  or 
seventy  votes,   whereas  now   that   they  were  installed  in 


60  LORD   MELBOURNE 

power  they  could  command  a  majority  of  thirty-two  in  a 
large  House.  There  had  been  no  appeal  to  the  country  in 
the  meantime — members  had  merely  changed  sides.  The 
influence  of  the  Crown  explained  the  process. 

Though  the  discarded  ministers  had  been  so  soundly 
beaten,  the  question'  was  not  allowed  to  drop,  and  it  may 
be  worth  while  referring  to  the  views  Lamb  held  on  one 
collateral  point  which  had  been  raised.  He  cannot  yet  be 
accepted  as  a  constitutional  authority,  though  it  is  probable 
that  his  opinions  were  better  than  his  rhetoric,  but  he  was 
in  close  communication  with  some  of  the  ablest  men  of  the 
party,  and  may  be  supposed  to  have  known  what  was  then 
regarded  as  orthodox  Whig  doctrine.  He  mentions  in  his 
diary  that  Mr.  Bathurst  Bragge,  Lord  Sidmouth's  brother- 
in-law,  in  the  course  of  the  discussion  in  the  House, 
broached  a  doctrine  which  he  believed  to  have  been 
'  unheard  of  before  that  day,'  namely,  that  the  King  may 
act  constitutionally  without  any  advisers,  and  that  there  are 
certain  occasions,  such  as  the  interval  between  the  dismissal 
of  one  set  of  ministers  and  the  appointment  of  another,  in 
which  he  must  so  act.  Lamb's  comment  is,  '  If  this  be 
admitted  it  leads  either  to  the  absurdity  that  in  a  free 
government  there  may  be  acts  of  the  executive  power  for 
which  no  one  is  responsible,  or  to  the  unconstitutional 
conclusion  that  the  King  is  amenable,'  and  he  denounces 
the  doctrine  as  '  completely  subversive  of  the  very  founda- 
tions of  our  government.'  In  a  speech  on  a  motion  made 
by  Mr.  Lyttelton,  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  waived,  says 
Lamb,  the  question  whether  the  King  can  act  without 
responsible  advisers,  and  no  further  satisfaction  appears  to 
have  been  furnished  by  the  debates  in  either  House,  but 
Sir  Erskjne  May  suggests  the  sort  of  bridge  that  can  be 


POLITICAL   LAND-SURVEYING  6 1 

made  to  span  the  yawning  chasm.  By  no  known  process 
can  a  sovereign  be  prevented  from  coming  to  any  decision 
he  thinks  fit,  but  it  is  of  no  avail  unless  it  is  carried  into 
effect,  and  ministers  become  themselves  responsible  for  the 
acts  which  brought  them  into  power. 

So  long  as  his  friends  were  in  office  Lamb's  course  was 
plain.  He  voted  with  them  on  all  occasions.  Nor  had  he 
any  reason  to  complain  of  the  treatment  he  received.  They 
put  him  well  to  the  front,  he  had  an  opportunity  of  showing 
what  was  in  him,  and  he  was  probably  not  without  hopes  ot 
being  able  before  long  to  plant  his  foot  on  one  of  the  lower 
rungs  of  the  administrative  ladder.  When  the  Tories  came 
in  with  the  Duke  of  Portland  his  point  of  view  was  shifted 
a  little.  Fresh  influences  came  into  play.  He  could  con- 
sider his  own  position  more  freely,  and  perhaps  with  less 
illusion.  Lord  Howick  had  gone  to  the  House  of  Lords 
as  Earl  Grey,  and  Mr.  Ponsonby,  Lady  Caroline's  kins- 
man, had  taken  his  place  as  leader  of  the  Opposition. 
Canning  was  now  at  the  Foreign  Office,  and  Lamb  was 
powerfully  impressed  by  Canning's  eloquence.  Lord  Pal- 
merston  now  appeared  on  the  Government  bench  for  the 
first  time.  He  was  Lamb's  junior  by  five  years,  yet  he  had 
no  sooner  obtained  a  seat  in  the  House  than  he  was  made 
a  Lord  of  the  Admiralty.  As  soon  as  the  Whigs  were  out 
of  office  the  usual  process  of  disintegration  began.  A 
Radical  wing  was  forming,  led  by  Whitbread,  and  including 
Lord  Althorp,  Lord  Folkestone,  better  known  as  Lord 
Radnor,  and  Lord  Milton,  afterwards  Earl  FitzWilliam. 
These  were  men  to  kindle  sympathies  even  in  a  nature  at 
that  time  so  loftily  aristocratic  as  Lamb's.  He  could  well 
afford  to  move  on  with  old  titles  and  broad  acres.  At  any 
rate  the  existence  of  a  second  party  on  the  Liberal  side 


63  LORD  MELBOURNE 

placed  an  alternative  at  the  disposal  of  a  political  aspirant. 
Lord  Althorp  was  Lamb's  relative  by  marriage,  and  this 
would  help  to  bring  them  together.  It  is,  moreover,  a 
lesson  taught  afresh  with  every  Parliamentary  generation, 
that  nothing  so  much  enhances  the  value  of  a  rising 
politician  with  the  chiefs  of  his  party  as  a  prudent  display 
of  independence.  Lamb  was  innocent  of  any  in  ention  to 
sunder  himself  from  the  strictly  orthodox  connection,  but 
for  several  years  to  come  he  swerved  a  little  towards  the 
left. 

In  1809  there  arose  the  famous  scandal  concerning  the 
Duke  of  York.  One  day  a  Colonel  Wardle  got  up  from 
the  ministerial  side  of  the  House  and  gave  notice  of  motion 
for  an  inquiry  into  the  official  conduct  of  the  Commander- 
in-Chief,  whom  he  accused  of  selling  commissions  in  the 
army  through  his  mistress,  Mrs.  Clarke.  The  leaders  of 
both  parties  were  scandalised  and  incredulous.  Very  little 
was  known  of  the  Duke's  accuser,  and  that  little  was  not 
to  his  advantage.  The  Duke  gave  private  assurances  to 
Mr.  Perceval,  now  at  the  head  of  affairs  and  leader  of  the 
House,  that  there  was  not  the  slightest  foundation  for  the 
charge,  and  having  thus,  as  he  thought,  sure  ground  to  go 
upon,  the  minister  thought  it  the  best  course  to  challenge 
investigation.  But  the  tables  were  turned  when  the  lady 
appeared  at  the  bar  as  a  witness.  Her  good  looks  and 
piquant  manners  exercised  a  certain  fascination  upon  the 
House.  To  listen  to  her  cross-examination  was  more 
exciting  than  a  play.  By  some  means  or  other,  probably 
through  her  mother's  second  marriage  to  a  compositor,  she 
had  received  a  fair  education.  She  herself  had  married  a 
stone-mason  with  whom  her  previous  relations  had  not  been 
exemplary.    Captain  Gronow  tells  us  in  his  '  Reminiscences ' 


POLITICAL  LAND-SURVEYING  63 

that  the  Duke  made  her  acquaintance  while  walking  across 
Blackheath,  and  that  he  took  her  to  the  royal  box  at  the 
theatre,  where  she  found  from  the  way  the  people  stared  at 
her,  and  the  remarks  which  reached  her  ears,  that  she  was 
supposed  to  be  the  Duchess  of  York.  The  fashionable 
world  of  London  soon  discovered  that  a  great  lady  kept 
house  at  Gloucester  Place,  and  lived  in  a  style  which  a 
royal  revenue  could  hardly  maintain.  Her  relations  with 
the  Duke  were  notorious,  and  it  was  presently  ascertained 
that  to  propitiate  her  favour  was  a  sure  way  of  obtaining 
commissions  and  promotions  at  the  Horse  Guards.  There 
was  one  straight  road  to  her  good  graces.  Her  extravagance 
would  have  beggared  her  royal  lover  if  he  had  been  as 
munificent  as  his  promises,  but  they  probably  both  alike 
found  that  patronage  was  as  good  as  money.  With  what- 
ever pretences  the  process  was  concealed,  he  found,  in  point 
of  fact,  that  to  act  upon  her  recommendations  was  a  cheap 
way  of  indulging  in  a  disgraceful  amour. 

There  could  be  no  doubt  that  Mrs.  Clarke  had  been 
in  the  habit  of  doing  all  that  was  alleged.  She  obtained 
commissions  from  the  Duke,  and  received  large  sums  of 
money  from  the  persons  in  whose  names  they  were  made 
out.  For  some  considerable  time  she  acted  as  patronage- 
purveyor  for  the  army.  Whether  the  Duke  was  fully  ac- 
quainted with  the  character  of  these  transactions  is  a  point 
which  could  not  be  clearly  proved.  It  was  shown  by  his 
love-letters  that  she  had  been  allowed  to  talk  to  him  on  the 
claims  and  requests  of  officers,  but  that  he  knew  she  took 
money  and  applied  it  to  the  maintenance  of  their  joint 
establishment  did  not  appear  except  from  her  evidence.  It 
came  out  that  her  good  offices  were  not  restricted  to  the 
army.     A  Rev.  Mr.  O'Meara  had  secured  her  approbation, 


64  LORD   MELBOURNE 

and  she  prevailed  upon  the  Duke  to  recommend  him  to 
the  King  as  one  of  the  court  preachers.  The  Duke's  best 
defence  was  the  weakness  of  his  understanding.  He  had 
the  reputation  of  being  the  least  intelligent  of  the  King's 
sons,  and  this  was  a  large  admission.  Though  open  to 
reproach  on  the  score  of  morals,  he  had  a  certain  reputation 
for  piety.  It  was  understood  on  his  own  assurance  that  he 
never  travelled  without  having  a  Bible  in  the  carriage. 

What  side  he  should  take  in  the  Parliamentary  contro- 
versy was  a  rather  delicate  question  for  Lamb.  The  Duke 
had  always  been  a  favourite  guest  at  Melbourne  House.  He 
was  one  of  his  mother's  friends.  There  was  once  between 
them  that  charming  harmony  of  discontent  which  made  each 
prefer  the  house  of  the  other,  and  led  to  an  exchange.  If 
Lamb  had  sought  an  excuse  for  taking  the  Duke's  side, 
he  might  have  found  one,  but  he  went  with  morality.  The 
Government  resolution  exonerating  the  Duke  from  the  charge 
of  personal  corruption  was  carried  by  a  large  majority,  but 
under  circumstances  which  detracted  so  much  from  its  moral 
weight,  that  he  immediately  resigned  the  office  of  commander- 
in-chief.  But  this  was  not  allowed  to  settle  the  question. 
Lord  Althorp,  breaking  away  from  the  chief  of  his  party, 
came  to  the  front  with  a  resolution  and  a  maiden  speech. 
His  object  was  to  emphasise  the  Duke's  resignation  as  an 
act  which  had  been  forced  upon  him.  He  accordingly 
moved  that  as  the  Duke  had  resigned  the  command  of  the 
army,  the  House  did  not  '  now  '  think  it  necessary  to  pro- 
ceed any  farther  in  the  consideration  of  the  evidence  before 
the  committee.  One  sentence  from  Lord  Althorp's  speech 
deserves  to  be  singled  out,  since  it  struck  for  the  first  time 
a  chord  which  still  has  its  vibrations.  Speaking  of  the  Duke 
he  said,  '  He  was  rather  disposed  to  think  that  such  high 


POLITICAL   LAND-SURVEYING  6$ 

rank  and  affinity  to  the  throne  were  not  the  most  recom- 
mendatory qualifications  for  the  most  responsible  situation 
under  the  Crown,'  and  '  it  appeared  to  him  to  be  of  the 
greatest  importance  that  for  the  future  no  person  should  be 
called  to  such  high  situations  but  such  as  could  be  com- 
pletely responsible.'  The  battle  was  fought  over  the  word 
'  now '  which  contained  the  sting,  and  the  Government 
carried  its  omission  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  Lamb 
was  among  those  who  voted  for  its  retention. 

This  swerve  in  a  Radical  direction  went  much  further  on 
Lord  Folkestone's  motion  for  a  committee  of  inquiry  into 
the  existence  of  any  corrupt  practices  in  the  disposal  of 
offices  in  any  department  of  the  State.  The  shameful  dis- 
closures which  had  been  made,  added  to  those  which  had 
come  to  light  a  few  years  before  in  connection  with  Lord 
Melville's  administration  of  the  navy,  afforded  ample  justifica- 
tion for  such  an  inquiry,  but  there  was  not  enough  virtue  in 
either  party  to  sanction  a  general  assault  on  the  citadel  of 
corruption.  The  young  campaigners  knew  this  so  well  that 
they  did  not  seek  the  advice  of  the  Whig  leaders  before 
bringing  on  their  motion.  They  drew  their  inspiration  from 
Mr.  Whitbread,  who  planned  the  enterprise,  and  their 
utmost  hope  was  that  they  might  shame  their  chiefs  into 
such  a  display  of  public  spirit  as  the  occasion  demanded. 
They  were  bitterly  disappointed.  They  had  no  sooner 
stated  their  case  than  the  Whigs  rode  down  upon  them  in 
a  body.  Lord  Althorp  in  a  letter  to  his  father  mentions 
Lamb  as  one  of  the  '  very  small  minority '  who  voted  for  the 
motion.  He  made  out  thirty-one  in  the  lobby,  and  there 
was  one  whose  face  he  did  not  know.  The  breach  thus 
made  between  the  official  Whigs  and  the  more  advanced 

F 


66  LOUD    MELBOURNE 

members   of    the   party    lasted   long.     It   amounted   to    a 
Radical  secession. 

The  following  year  we  find  Lamb  speaking  in  support 
of  a  motion  to  abolish  sinecures,  assigning  as  one  reason 
for  their  abolition  that  besides  providing  Government  with 
venal  support,  they  furnish  a  motive  for  factious  opposition, 
'  since  those  who  vote  and  are  numbered  in  the  day  or 
battle,  have  reason  to  complain  if  they  happen  to  be  over- 
looked in  the  distribution  of  the  spoil.' 

We  are  now  approaching  one  of  his  great  displays,  and  it 
must  be  introduced  with  due  ceremony.  He  had  to  show 
what  constitutional  eloquence  could  do  on  an  important 
constitutional  question.  But  the  occasion  was  a  mournful 
one.  In  1810  the  King  began  to  show  more  decided 
symptoms  01  that  distressing  malady  from  which  he  was 
never  to  recover.  It  was  the  jubilee  year  of  his  reign.  His 
youngest  child,  Amelia,  to  whom  he  was  tenderly  attached, 
lay  dying.  During  fitful  gleams  of  sanity,  he  used  to  summon 
the  physicians  to  his  room  to  ascertain  from  them  by  minute 
inquiries  how  she  was  going  on.  She  was  twenty-seven 
years  of  age.  It  is  said  that  on  one  of  his  visits  to  her  bed- 
side she  had  a  secret  attachment  to  reveal,  and  that  the 
disclosure  helped  still  further  to  unhinge  his  mind.  One 
incident  is  beyond  all  doubt.  The  princess  had  a  ring  made 
with  a  lock  of  her  hair,  and  as  she  placed  it  on  her  father's 
finger  she  said  to  him,  '  Remember  me.'  The  poor  old 
man,  half  blind  and  already  half  insane,  sank  beneath  this 
blow.  From  that  moment  what  was  left  of  his  reason 
vanished  irrecoverably. 

When  Parliament  met  in  November,  there  was  no  com- 
mission to  open  the  session.  The  Great  Seal  was  in 
abeyance.     It  was  necessary  to  make  immediate  provision 


POLITICAL   LAND-SURVEYING  67 

for  executing  the  functions  of  the  Crown.     The  obvious 
expedient  was  a  regency,  with  the  Prince  of  Wales  as  regent ; 
but  at  this  point,  which  settled  itself,  a  serious  disagreement 
arose.     The  Government,  following  the  example  set  by  Pitt 
in  1788,  held  that  the  royal  authority  should  be  transferred 
to  the  Prince  by  a  Bill,  and  that  it  should  be  subject  to  some 
restrictions.     The  Whigs  on  the  other  hand,  adopting  the 
doctrine  of  Fox,  were  of  opinion  that  no  Bill  was  necessary, 
but  that  the  two   Houses   should   merely  present  a  joint 
address  praying  the  Prince  to  assume  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment.    Fox,  indeed,  went  a  step  further.     He  held  that  the 
Prince  had  an  inherent  right  to  take  up  the  reins  as  they 
fell  from  the  King's  hands,  the  only  condition  precedent 
being  an  attestation  of  the  King's  inability  to  discharge  his 
royal  duties.     The  Whigs  did  not  on  the  present  occasion 
take   quite   such   high   ground.      Both   parties   practically 
agreed  to  proceed  by  Bill,  and  the  only  point  in  dispute  was 
whether  the  royal  authority  should  be  transferred  with  or 
without  conditions,  the  conditions  suggested  being  that  no 
new   peers   should   be   created,   that  no  pension  or  place 
should  be  granted  other  than  was  necessary  bylaw,  and  that 
the  King's  person  should  be  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Queen. 
It  was  proposed  to  exact   these  conditions  only  for  twelve 
months. 

In  the  debate  un  the  resolutions  which  were  introduced 
as  a  preface  to  the  Bill  Lamb  took  an  active  part,  steering 
a  middle  course.  He  repudiated  the  notion  of  inherent 
right  and  of  proceeding  by  address.  He  held  it  to  be  the 
duty  of  Parliament  to  confer  the  powers  of  royalty  upon 
the  Prince  by  a  Bill,  but  he  was  opposed  to  any  restrictions. 
Considering  their  character  and  for  how  short  a  time  they 
were  to  be   imposed,  it  will   probably  be  thought  that  there 


68  LORD   MELBOURNE 

was  not  much  left  to  fight  about  ;  but  it  must  be  remembered 
that  something  more  than  a  constitutional  principle  was  at 
stake.  The  dignity  of  the  Prince  was  menaced.  It  looked 
like  an  insult  to  fetter  him  with  restrictions.  If  they  were 
meant  to  endure  but  for  twenty-four  hours,  the  offence  would 
be  intrinsically  all  the  same.  The  Whigs  were  still  the 
Prince's  friends,  and  they  believed  that  he  was  still  their 
friend.  The  traditions  which  began  with  Fox  still  lingered. 
The  Whigs  and  the  Prince  were  supposed  to  be  in  standing 
opposition  to  the  Tories  and  the  Court.  Hence  the  Prince's 
accession  to  royal  power  was  hailed  by  the  Whigs  as  the 
dawn  of  a  brighter  day,  and  they  were  eager  to  lay  some 
tribute  of  homage  at  his  feet.  Lamb  was  put  forward  on 
behalf  of  his  party  to  move  an  amendment  on  the  resolution 
for  limiting  the  powers  of  the  Prince  Regent.  We  need 
not  reproduce  his  arguments.  They  were  the  arguments  of 
a  courtier  who  had  his  eyes  all  the  time  fixed  upon  the 
rising  sun  whose  gracious  beams  had  so  often  mingled 
with  the  lesser  splendours  of  Melbourne  House.  He  was 
answered  by  Canning,  who  paid  mellifluous  compliments  to 
his  young  friend,  and  then  the  amendment  was  disposed  of. 
The  great  thing  was  to  have  fought  in  such  a  cause.  To 
have  lost  was  nothing. 

The  Prince  was  now  installed  in  all  but  royal  authority, 
and  it  remained  to  be  seen  what  use  he  would  make  of  his 
new  powers.  The  first  use  he  made  of  them  was  not 
encouraging.  He  reappointed  the  Duke  of  York  to  the 
command  of  the  army.  The  scandals  which  led  to  his 
dismissal  were  still  green.  The  street  cries  which  rang 
indecorous  versions  of  his  adventures  into  the  ears  of  old 
and  young  had  hardly  died  away.  Althorp  and  Lamb  were 
still   under   the  fond  impression  that  their  Parliamentary 


POLITICAL   LAND-SURVEYING  69 

action  had  placed  an  insuperable  barrier  in  the  way  of  the 
Duke's  return.     The  Prince  Regent  undid  their  work  by  a 
stroke  of  the  pen.     Lord  Milton  moved  a  vote  of  censure 
on    ministers    for   recommending   the    reappointment,    but 
Lamb   stood   aloof.      Forty-nine   members  voted   for   the 
motion,   but   Lamb   was   not   one   of   the  forty-nine.      He 
invented  lame  apologies  in  self-exculpation.     He  thought 
that  enough  had  been  done,  that   a  sufficient   warning  had 
been   given,    and   that   the   Duke   after    all    was    perhaps 
'  morally  innocent.'     It  would  probably  not  be  unjust  to 
surmise  that  he  did  not  care  to  fly  in  the  face  of  the  Prince 
Regent,  now,  perhaps,  on  the  eve  of  redeeming  his  long 
professions  of  attachment  to  the  Whigs.    The  party  flattered 
themselves  that  they  were  on  the  verge  of  restoration  to 
power.     What  really  awaited  them  was  the  discomfiture  of 
all  their  hopes.     The  Prince  satisfied  his   '  historical  con- 
science '  by  declaring  that  he  had  '  no  predilections,'  that 
Whigs  or  Tories  would  suit  him  equally  well  if  they  would 
only  come  to  terms  and  make  a  pleasant  Cabinet  selection 
from  both  sides.     He  did  not  choose  to  see  that  certain 
principles,  the  Catholic  claims,  and  a  more  liberal  policy  in 
home  affairs  among  them,  stood  in  the  way.     The  result, 
after  endless  intriguing,  was,  no  doubt,  in  harmony  with  his 
wishes.     The  Tories  were  installed  in  power.     Lord  Liver- 
pool took  up  the  reins,  which  he  kept  in  his  hands  till  1827. 
Protestant   ascendency  and  repressive  measures  were  the 
order   of  the  day.      The  borough-mongers  rallied  to  the 
support  of  the  '  minions '  of  the  Prince  Regent,  and  among 
those  who  lost  their  seats  at  the  ensuing  general  election 
was  Lamb,  who  bade  farewell  to  Parliament  for  the  next 
four  years. 


yO  LORD    MELBOURNE 


CHAPTER   V 

TROUBLES    AT    HOME 

Lady  Caroline  Lamb — Sinister  auguries  fulfilling  themselves— Advent 
of  Lord  Byron  and  '  Childe  Harold  ' — The  flirtations  of  Lady  Caro- 
line, serio-comic  verging  upon  tragedy — William  Lamb's  conjugal 
ruminations— Marriage  of  Lord  Byron  and  its  results  at  Brocket- 
Waywardness  or  madness? — A  separation  planned  and  frustrated 
— The  future  Lord  Lytton  a  sacrificial  victim — Separation  at  last 
— A  '  psalm  of  life.' 

In  throwing  up  politics  for  the  present,  Lamb  yielded  more 
or  less  passively  to  a  variety  of  considerations.  He  could 
not  but  feel  that  the  seven  years  he  had  spent  in  the  House 
had  not  been  crowned  with  distinguished  success.  He  had 
spoken  on  several  important  occasions,  nor  could  any  one 
deny  that  his  speeches  were  ornate,  highly  polished,  and 
strongly  tinctured  with  constitutional  lore  ;  but  they  had 
produced  no  impression,  and  had  won  no  recognition  more 
valuable  or  more  promising  than  now  and  then  a  ceremonial 
compliment.  There  was  a  change,  moreover,  in  the  pro- 
spects of  the  party  to  which,  more  by  force  of  circumstances 
than  by  conviction,  he  had  attached  himself,  and  it  was 
possible  that  the  party  itself  might  be  slipping  out  of 
existence.  The  hopes  founded  on  the  supposed  predilec- 
tions of  the  Prince  Regent  had  proved  delusive.  Hence- 
forth, if  he  was  to  act  with  his  party,  he  would  be  brought 
into    frequent    collision    with    the    illustrious    patron     of 


TROUBLES   AT    HOME  7  I 

Melbourne  House,  and  such  a  course  was  not  to  be  lightly 
ventured  upon.  His  father  held  a  place  in  the  Prince's 
household,  and  a  step  in  the  peerage  was  an  object  of 
domestic  ambition.  If  he  could  not  promote  its  attain- 
ment by  his  personal  influence  in  politics,  he  might,  at  any 
rate,  abstain  from  throwing  needless  obstacles  in  the  way. 
It  was  out  of  the  question  that  he  should  cast  in  his  lot 
decisively  with  the  Radical  group  of  members  who  had 
occasionally  had  the  support  of  his  votes.  He  did  not 
share  in  their  popular  sympathies  nor  in  their  earnest 
convictions,  and  yet  he  could  not  make  up  his  mind  as  yet 
to  an  open  rupture.  On  the  whole,  it  would  be  just  as  well 
to  stand  aside  for  a  year  or  two  and  see  how  events  would 
shape  themselves.  These  considerations  would  probably 
have  sufficed,  but  they  were  reinforced  from  another  quarter. 
His  domestic  relations  were  not  in  the  happiest  plight.  He 
had  worry  and  vexation  at  home. 

In  glancing  at  the  early  years  of  Lady  Caroline  Lamb, 
as  described  in  her  letters,  we  have  already  seen  indications 
of  a  character  which  did  not  promise  well  for  the  repose 
and  dignity  of  married  life.  Her  union  with  Lamb  seemed 
to  be  one  of  affection,  and  in  ordinary  cases  this  might  be 
accepted  as  a  sufficient  augury  of  future  happiness.  It  is 
all  that  is  usually  attainable,  most  persons  have  to  start  upon 
their  joint  voyage  with  no  better  security,  and  the  expectations 
based  upon  it  are  seldom  wholly  disappointed.  In  the  case 
of  Lady  Caroline  the  guarantee  was  of  less  than  the  usual 
value.  As  our  acquaintance  with  her  extends,  we  find  that 
the  whole  of  her  life  was  composed  of  a  series  of  episodes 
in  which  love,  or  what  passed  for  it,  played  a  leading  part. 
Lamb  had  the  honour,  perhaps  the  ill-fortune,  of  becoming 
the  hero  of  one  of  these  episodes,  but  unluckily  it  was  only 


-2  LORD    MELBOURNE 

the  first  of  the  series,  if  indeed  it  was  the  first.  In  her 
passion  for  him  there  may  have  been  some  under-current  of 
permanency.  We  find  it  welling  up  to  the  surface  by  fits 
and  starts,  and  apparently  surviving  all  other  attachments, 
but  the  long  interval  between  the  beginning  and  the  end 
was  infinitely  chequered.  She  has  been  described  as  a 
woman  of  impulse  ;  but  impulse  is  not  quite  the  right  word. 
It  is  true  that  she  was  often  borne  away  on  a  current  which 
seemed  irresistible,  but  she  had  first  deliberately  opened 
the  floodgates  and  calculated  exactly  upon  what  would 
happen.  She  was  on  the  whole  a  very  cool  practitioner. 
The  basis  of  her  character  was  wilfulness,  and  vanity  was 
the  main- spring  which  set  the  volitional  apparatus  going. 
She  would  select  with  keen  judgment  some  incident  in  social 
life  which  afforded  ample  play  for  two  parts,  a  torturer  and 
a  victim,  and  though  she  began  by  being  the  first  she  often 
ended  by  becoming  the  second.  When  the  game  was  once 
begun  she  threw  herself  into  it  with  the  whole  force  of  her 
nature,  and  managed  to  develop  a  drama  in  which  her  own 
feelings  became  insensibly  engaged  till  she  was  no  longer  at 
liberty  to  disentangle  herself  the  moment  she  pleased.  It 
has  been  hinted  that  she  was  mad  ;  but  there  was  no  mad- 
ness in  the  case.  She  dallied  with  momentary  rushes  of 
feeling,  which,  however,  were  intellectual  rather  than 
emotional,  and  were  not  so  much  impulses  as  whims.  But 
when  she  was  once  in  them  it  was  not  so  easy  to  get  out, 
and  by  force  of  acting  she  often  became  for  a  time  sincere, 
with  final  discomfiture  and  mortification  to  herself,  and  infi- 
nite annoyance  to  everybody  about  her,  and  to  her  husband 
most  of  all. 

These  peculiarities  grew  upon  her  by  degrees.     Perfec- 
tion in  the  arts  most  natural  to  her  was  not  reached  at  once, 


TROUBLES   AT    HOME  73 

and  perhaps  for  the  development  they  subsequently  achieved 
she  was  not  alone  to  blame.  It  has  been  said  that  she  and 
her  husband  were  an  ill-assorted  couple,  and  the  remark  is 
so  obvious  that  it  must  be  true,  though  it  does  not  cover  all 
the  facts.  In  1807  their  only  son  was  born,  the  Prince 
of  Wales  standing  sponsor  for  him  at  the  font.  He  was 
called  George  Augustus  Frederic,  after  his  royal  godfather, 
Augustus  being  the  name  selected  from  the  three  for  daily 
use,  and  its  magnificent  suggestiveness  offered  a  melancholy 
contrast  to  the  destiny  thus  honoured.  Outwardly  healthy, 
and  even  handsome  as  he  grew  up,  there  were  symptoms  in 
infancy  of  a  constitutional  ailment  which  showed  itself  later 
on  in  an  infirmity  of  the  intellect  that  lasted  through  life. 
There  was  noactual  imbecility,  but  rather  the  constant  promise 
of  a  maturity  which  was  watched  for  with  unceasing  anxiety, 
but  never  came.  This  calamity  was  but  slowly  realised,  and 
it  was  not  till  the  stage  of  manhood  was  passed  that  all  hope 
had  to  be  mournfully  abandoned.  At  the  period  of  which 
we  are  now  speaking  there  was  nothing  to  becloud  the  sky  ; 
there  was  only  too  much  sunshine.  Life  at  Melbourne 
House  was  an  incessant  round  of  frivolous  dissipation.  The 
after-supper  revels  often  lasted  till  daybreak.  But  gaiety  and 
merriment  did  not  bring  happiness,  and,  looked  at  from  no 
puritanical  point  of  view,  but  from  that  of  a  rational  economy 
of  enjoyment,  it  is  probable  that  few  households  were  more 
forlorn.  Mr.  Torrens,  who  appears  to  have  gathered  up  the 
traditions  of  the  family  from  authentic  sources,  says  of  Lamb 
that  '  disenchantment  seemed  to  have  spread  its  insidious 
spell  over  him,  and  that,  though  weary  of  ennui,  he  could 
not  bring  himself  to  set  about  any  undertaking  requiring 
effort  or  toil.'  Of  his  wife  it  is  said  that,  '  unceasingly  active, 
she  spent  her  existence  with  as  little  concentration  of  aim. 


74  Lord  Melbourne 

Painting,   music,   reading,  writing  verses,  patronising  plays, 
taking  part  in  private  theatricals,  dreaming  romantically,  and 
talking  in  a  way  to  make  people  stare  ;  riding  on  horseback, 
often  coquetting,  sometimes  quarrelling  (she  hardly  knew 
what  it  was  about)  with  her  husband,  trying  to  please  her 
father-in-law,  who  thought  her  a  fidget,  and  trying  to  please 
her  child,  whose  wistful  gaze  of  incurious  wonder  made  her 
for  the  moment  staid  and  sad.     These,  and  a  world  of  in- 
termingling trifles,  filled  up  her  time.'     In  a  letter  printed 
among  Lord  Melbourne's  Papers,  she  writes  in  one  of  her 
penitential  moods,  '  I  think  lately,  my  dearest  William,  we 
have  been  very  troublesome  to  each  other,  which  I  take  by 
wholesale  to  my  own  account,  and  mean  to  correct,  leaving 
you  in  retail  a  few  little  sins  which  I  know  you  will  correct.' 
Apparently  about  the  same  period  Lamb  thus  moralises  in 
his  journal  :   '  The  general  reason  against  marriage  is  this, 
that  two  minds,  however  congenial  they  may  be,  or  however 
submissive  the  one  may  be  to  the  other,  can  never  act  like 
one.     It  is  the  nature  of  human  things  that  no  man  can  be 
free  and  independent.'     The  conclusion  seems  too  large  for 
the  argument.     A  passage  follows  which  is  more  specific  : 
'  By  marriage  you  place  yourself  upon  the  defensive  instead 
of  the  offensive  in  society,  which  latter  is  admitted  to  be  in 
all  contentions  the  most  advantageous  mode  of  proceeding.' 
Then   follows  a    reflection    which    looks    like    experience  : 
'  Before  marriage    the    shape,  the    figure,    the  complexion, 
carry  all  before  them  ;  after  marriage  the  mind  and  cha- 
racter unexpectedly  claim  their  share,  and  that  the  largest, 
of  importance.'      He  then  remembers  that  before  he  was 
married  if  he  saw  anything  wrong  in  a  house,  he  used  to  lay 
all  the  fault  upon  the  master,  who  might  at  once  put  a  stop 
to  it  if  he  pleased  :  but,  he  adds,  'since  I  have  married  I 


TROUBLES   AT    HOME  75 

find  that  this  was  a  very  rash  and  premature  judgment.' 
Almost  the  last  of  these  fugitive  entries  relates  to  the  effect 
produced,  '  particularly  upon  women,'  by  what  others  say 
of  their  husbands.  '  Nothing's  fixed.  Their  opinion  rises 
or  falls  according  to  what  they  hear  in  the  world,  according 
to  the  lightest  observation  or  the  most  casual  remarks.' 
These  reflections  are  not  remarkably  luminous.  They  do 
not  appear  to  be  particularly  acute  or  manly,  while  on  the 
side  of  philosophy  they  are  certainly  defective.  They  almost 
suggest  that  a  husband  who  could  soliloquise  in  this  rather 
moonstruck  fashion  was  hardly  the  best  fitted  to  fix  the 
wayward  fancies  of  Lady  Caroline. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  with  the  inmates  of  Mel- 
bourne House  when  a  portent  suddenly  burst  upon  society 
in  the  person  of  Lord  Byron.  In  the  autumn  of  1811  he 
returned  from  his  two  or  three  years'  travel  in  Turkey  and 
Greece,  bringing  the  first  two  cantos  of  '  Childe  Harold  '  in 
his  pocket.  They  were  soon  in  his  publisher's  hands,  and 
made  their  appearance  in  February  the  following  year.  The 
poem  produced  a  great  sensation.  Byron  awoke  one  morn- 
ing and  found  himself  famous.  Some  proofs  had  been 
struck  off  beforehand  for  the  perusal  of  private  friends,  one 
of  which  was  sent  to  Rogers,  who  gave  or  lent  it  to  Lady 
Caroline  Lamb.  She  read  it,  and  was  enchanted  like  the 
rest  of  the  world,  and  before  many  hours  had  passed  by  all 
her  friends  knew  that  she  had  read  it  and  what  she  thought 
of  it.  All  the  world  was  soon  talking  of  Byron,  and  what 
was  learned  of  his  previous  career,  supplemented  by  ela- 
borate portraitures  in  the  poem  itself,  which  were  assumed 
to  be  autobiographical,  presently  crystallised  into  myths. 
He  was  a  lord — that  at  least  was  certain.  He  had  come 
unexpectedly    into    his    heritage.       He    was    the    owner   of 


76  LORD   MELBOURNE 

a  fine  estate  and  of  a  weather-beaten  abbey  where  the 
ashes  of  his  ancestors  who  came  over  at  the  Conquest  had 
reposed  for  ages.  He  had  passed  through  many  vicissitudes 
in  his  short  life.  He  was  more  than  suspected  of  having 
been  prodigiously  wicked.  The  opening  pages  of  his  poem 
threw  a  lurid  light  upon  his  escapades.  But  there  were 
signs  that  his  heart  had  been  disillusionised,  and  perhaps 
crushed.  He  had  roamed  in  many  lands,  and  had  come 
back  with  a  halo  of  Eastern  splendour  round  his  head.  To 
see  him  was  to  be  convinced  that  all  this,  and  more  than 
this,  was  true.  His  pensive  face,  the  melancholy  that  shaded 
his  noble  brow,  was  irresistible.  It  suggested  conquests 
and  invited  consolation.  There  was  witchery  in  his  reputed 
wickedness.  It  gave  piquancy  to  his  charms,  and  threw  a 
colour  of  romance  into  a  dawning  future  with  which  it  was 
perhaps  hoped  that  dreams  of  reformation  did  not  too  largely 
mingle.  That  sad  averted  glance,  in  which  scorn  and 
tenderness  seemed  to  blend  in  equal  measure,  told  how 
much  he  had  suffered  and  how  much  he  might  still  enjoy  if 
sympathetic  natures  could  be  found.  Language  can  hardly 
exaggerate  the  folly  which  prevailed,  though  some  faint 
gleams  which  descended  within  the  reach  of  living  memories 
may  help  us  to  judge  of  what  it  must  have  been  when  the 
burning  fit  was  on. 

Lady  Caroline  found  in  Byron  a  foeman  worthy  of  her 
steel,  and  forthwith  prepared  for  the  attack.  There  is  not 
much  room  for  doubt  as  to  how  the  fight  began,  nor  as  to  the 
conditions  of  the  combat.  Taking  only  what  we  know  of 
her  from  contemporary  sources,  and  making  due  allowance 
for  the  feverish  extravagance  of  her  own  admissions,  there 
can  be  but  little  hesitation  in  assuming  that  she  was  the 
aggressor,  and  that,  whatever  suffering  may  afterwards  have 


TROUBLES   AT   HOME  77 

been  endured,  no  claim  can  be  alleged  for  pity.  In  a  letter 
to  her  friend  Lady  Morgan,  she  tells  how  their  acquaintance 
began.  '  I  was  one  night  at  Lady  "Westmoreland's ;  the 
women  were  all  throwing  their  heads  at  him.  Lady  West- 
moreland led  me  up  to  him,  I  looked  earnestly  at  him,  and 
turned  on  my  heel.  My  opinion  in  my  journal  was,  "  mad, 
bad,  and  dangerous  to  know."  A  day  or  two  passed;  I  was 
sitting  with  Lord  and  Lady  Holland  when  he  was  announced. 
Lady  Holland  said,  "  I  must  present  Lord  Byron  to  you." 
Lord  Byron  said,  "  That  offer  was  made  to  you  before  ;  may  I 
ask  why  you  rejected  it  ?  "  He  begged  permission  to  come 
and  see  me.  He  did  so  the  next  day.  Rogers  and  Moore 
were  standing  by  me.  I  was  on  the  sofa.  I  had  just  come 
in  from  riding ;  I  was  filthy  and  heated.  When  Lord 
Byron  was  announced,  I  flew  out  of  the  room  to  wash  myself. 
When  I  returned,  Rogers  said,  "  Lord  Byron,  you  are  a  happy 
man.  Lady  Caroline  has  been  sitting  in  all  her  dirt  with 
us,  but  when  you  were  announced  she  flew  to  beautify  her- 
self." Lord  Byron  wished  to  come  and  see  me  at  eight 
o'clock,  when  I  was  alone  ;  that  was  my  dinner  hour.  I  said 
he  might.  From  that  moment  for  more  than  nine  months 
he  almost  lived  at  Melbourne  House.  It  was  then  the 
centre  of  all  gaiety,  at  least  in  appearance.' 

The  acquaintance  thus  begun  soon  became  something 
more  than  friendship.  They  called  each  other  by  endearing 
names.  Her  passion  broke  out  in  verse.  In  one  of  her 
letters  she  offered  him  all  her  jewels  if  he  was  in  want 
of  money.  Their  intimacy  soon  became  notorious,  and 
speculations  were  rife  as  to  how  far  it  was  compatible  with 
innocence.  Rogers  took  the  charitable  view— and  he  was  a 
close  and  cynical  observer  ;  but  he  was  the  friend  of  both, 
and  a  case  must   be  pretty  far  gone  when  a  friend  can 


;8  LORD    MELBOURNE 

volunteer  the  part  of  a  juryman.  When  they  were  at  the 
same  parties,  she  returned  with  him  in  the  same  carnage. 
When  she  had  not  been  invited,  she  watched  him  on  his 
way  home  for  the  chance  of  a  moment's  interview.  Rogers 
found  her  waiting  for  him  one  night  to  beg  his  interposition 
in  a  quarrel  she  had  just  had  with  Lord  Byron.  These 
quarrels  became  frequent,  and  it  soon  appeared  that  the  poet 
was  bored  with  the  craving  for  a  monopoly  which  it  was  not 
in  his  nature  to  bestow. 

A  serious  cause  for  jealousy  presented  itself  before 
long.  However  strange  it  might  appear,  it  was  a  fact  that 
Byron  thought  of  marrying.  It  is  said  that  he  sought  the 
advice  of  Lady  Melbourne  on  this  delicate  subject,  pro- 
testing his  virtues,  and  asking  her  help  in  delivering  him 
from  'the  daughters  of  Heth.'  It  is  not  improbable  that 
Lady  Melbourne  took  the  liberty  of  giving  him  the  advice 
unasked.  She  kept  a  diligent  watch  over  the  happiness  of 
her  son,  and  would  no  doubt  have  been  glad  of  any 
arrangement  which  would  place  the  too  welcome  visitor 
under  matrimonial  watch  and  ward.  The  lady  suggested 
was  Lady  Caroline's  cousin-in-law,  the  only  child  of  Lady 
Melbourne's  eldest  brother,  Sir  Ralph  Milbanke.  Lord 
Byron  proposed  to  her  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  in 
which  he  had  made  Lady  Caroline's  acquaintance.  He  met 
with  a  refusal,  but  a  refusal  couched  in  such  kind  terms, 
that  it  encouraged  a  correspondence  which  ended  two  years 
later  in  a  second  offer.  This  was  accepted,  and  the 
marriage  took  place  in  February  1815.  To  be  ousted  by 
her  cousin  from  the  blessedness  of  sole  possession  to  which 
she  had  aspired  was  a  strain  too  severe  to  be  endured 
patiently.  After  an  altercation  with  Lord  Byron  at  Lady 
Heathcote's  ball  in  June  181 3,  she  tried  to  throw  herself 


TROUBLES   AT    HOME  79 

out  of  the  window,  and  then,  in  a  fit  of  melodramatic  despair, 
stabbed  herself  with  a  supper-knife.  If  any  wound  was 
inflicted  it  was  not  serious.  To  put  an  end  to  the  scandal, 
her  mother,  Lady  Bessborough,  took  her  over  to  Ireland. 
Before  consenting  to  go,  she  made  a  personal  appeal  to 
Byron.  The  interview  was  not  successful,  but  it  was 
followed  by  a  soothing  letter,  in  which  he  declared  that  till 
that  moment  he  never  knew  '  the  madness  of  my  dearest 
and  most  beloved  friend,'  and,  while  firmly  counselling 
submission,  wound  up  by  saying,  '  I  was  and  am  yours, 
freely  and  entirely  to  obey,  to  honour,  love,  and  fly  with 
you,  when,  where,  and  how  yourself  might  and  may 
determine.'  To  Ireland,  nevertheless,  she  went ;  their 
correspondence  was  kept  up  during  her  absence,  but,  on 
learning  that  she  was  about  to  return,  Lord  Byron  sent  her 
a  very  different  letter,  which  put  an  end  to  all  intimacy.  It 
was  couched  in  terms  of  brutal  frankness,  and  bore  on  its 
seal  the  coronet  and  initials  of  a  lady  whom  she  recognised 
as  a  rival.  A  serious  illness  was  the  result,  and  before  she 
recovered  Byron  had  left  England. 

What  William  Lamb  thought  and  felt  through  all  this 
troubled  period  may  perhaps  be  set  down  among  those 
things  that  are  better  imagined  than  described.  Probably 
he  was  of  the  same  opinion,  and  said  nothing.  No  reference 
is  made  to  these  later  experiences  in  his  journal.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  his  sensitive  and  fastidious  nature  felt 
the  humiliation  keenly.  It  is  likely  that  many  of  the 
scandals  that  were  afloat  never  reached  his  ears.  So  far  as  his 
own  observation  went,  he  might  choose  to  be  a  little  blind, 
and  for  the  rest  to  suffer  in  silence  rather  than  run  the  risk 
of  making  himself  ridiculous.  He  had  one  great  refuge  in 
his  love  of  books,  which  is  said  to  have  grown  upon  him  at 


80  LORD   MELBOURNE 

this  period,  and  another  in  his  dislike  to  take  trouble  over 
anything.  When  half  resolved  upon  some  step  which  might 
help  to  mitigate  the  nuisance  of  his  wife's  follies,  he  perhaps 
said  to  himself,  as  he  used  to  say  to  his  colleagues  in  the 
Cabinet  many  years  later,  '  Why  can't  you  leave  it  alone  ?  ' 
He  has  been  censured  for  want  of  resolution  in  not  show- 
ing more  firmness  with  his  wife — and  his  wife  herself 
figures  among  his  censurers.  She  told  her  friend  Lady 
Morgan  that  he  took  no  care  of  her,  and  did  not  mind  how 
many  men  she  flirted  with.  Another  remark  perhaps  goes 
nearer  the  secret  of  their  unhappiness.  She  complains  that 
he  never  treated  her  seriously.  Balzac  had  not  yet  reached 
the  age  of  authorship,  or  there  are  some  chapters  in  his 
'  Physiologie  du  mariage '  which  even  Lamb,  man  of  the 
world  as  he  was,  might  have  read  with  advantage.  Perhaps 
he  took  too  little  trouble  with  his  wife,  perhaps  less  than 
she  deserved.  He  had  thought  fit  to  marry  a  capricious  but 
clever  woman,  and  he  should  have  made  up  his  mind  to 
adjust  himself  to  his  fate.  After  all,  it  is  only  a  part  of  the 
discipline  of  life,  and  has  to  be  accepted  uncomplainingly. 
With  all  her  faults,  Lady  Caroline  had  some  virtues  and 
many  charms.  For  one  thing  she  was  kind-hearted.  One 
day  she  saw  a  child  hurt  in  the  street.  She  took  him  up  in 
her  carriage  and  conveyed  him  to  his  home.  The  late 
Lord  Lytton,  a  boy  at  [the  time,  heard  of  the  incident,  and 
sent  her  some  verses  which  it  had  inspired.  He  and  his 
brother  were  invited  to  Brocket,  and  Lady  Caroline  drew 
his  portrait.  Some  years  later  Lord  Lytton  knew  her  well, 
too  well  for  his  own  happiness,  and  he  has  left  a  description 
of  her  to  which  Earl  Cowper  in  his  preface  to  Lord  Mel- 
bourne's Papers  refers  with  satisfaction  :  '  She  had  large 
hazel  eyes,  capable  of  much  varied  expression,  exceedingly 


troubles  at  home  8i 

good  teeth,  and  a  pleasant  and  a  musical  intonation  of  voice, 
despite  a  certain  artificial  drawl,  habitual  to  what  was  called 
the  Devonshire  House  set.  Apart  from  these  gifts  she 
might  be  considered  plain.  But  she  had,  to  a  surpassing 
degree,  the  attribute  of  charm,  and  never  failed  to  please  if 
she  chose  to  do  so.  There  was  indeed  a  wild  originality  in 
her  talk  :  combining  great  and  sudden  contrast,  from  deep 
pathos  to  infantine  drollery,  now  sentimental,  now  shrewd, 
it  sparkled  with  anecdotes  of  the  great  world,  and  of  the 
eminent  persons  with  whom  she  had  been  brought  up,  or 
been  familiarly  intimate  ;  and  ten  minutes  after  it  became 
gravely  eloquent  with  religious  enthusiasm,  or  shot  off  into 
metaphysical  speculations,  sometimes  absurd,  sometimes 
profound,  generally  suggestive  and  interesting.  A  creature 
of  caprice  and  impulse  and  whim,  her  manner,  her  talk,  and 
her  character  shifted  their  colours  as  rapidly  as  those  of  a 
chameleon.'  Undoubtedly  it  would  have  required  a  vast 
amount  of  trouble,  a  variety  of  splendid  gifts,  and  patience 
all  but  inexhaustible,  to  gratify  the  roving  fancies  and  fill 
the  imagination  of  this  remarkable  woman.  Lamb  may 
have  known  enough  of  her  and  of  himself  to  feel  that  it 
was  hopeless  to  make  the  attempt. 

After  Byron  had  left  England,  within  a  few  months  of 
his  separation  from  his  wife,  Lady  Caroline  began  to  take 
her  revenge  for  his  desertion.  On  reading  a  copy  of  verses 
which  he  was  supposed  to  have  addressed  to  her  through 
the  press  at  the  moment  of  leaving,  she  made  a  bonfire  in 
front  of  Brocket  Hall,  burnt  him  in  effigy  and  sent  him  an 
account  of  the  performance.  Having  '  played  the  devil,'  as 
is  said  in  'Don  Juan,'  she  then  'wrote  a  novel.'  In 
'  Glenarvon  '  Byron  and  she  figured  as  the  principal  cha- 
racters under  a  thin  disguise  of  fiction,  and  her  adventures 

G 


82  LORD   MELBOURNE 

and  humiliations  were  exhibited  to  the  gaze  of  a  curious 
and  mocking  world.  It  took  her,  she  says,  a  month  to 
write  the  book.  She  did  it  at  night,  sitting  at  her  desk 
dressed  like  a  page  in  boy's  clothes.  Her  page  was  her 
chief  companion  by  day.  She  played  at  ball  with  him  in 
the  dining-room.  He  liked  to  throw  detonating  squibs 
into  the  fire.  She  scolded  him,  but  he  persisted.  One  day 
when  he  had  thrown  a  squib  into  the  fire  she  flung  the  ball 
at  his  head.  He  cried  out,  '  Oh,  my  lady,  you  have  killed 
me  ! '  Out  of  her  senses  she  ran  into  the  hall,  and  screamed 
'  O  God,  I  have  murdered  the  page.'  The  rumour  of  an 
actual  murder  flew  abroad,  and  there  was  prodigious  excite- 
ment in  the  neighbourhood.  It  was  impossible  to  put  up 
with  such  escapades  any  longer,  and  the  family  insisted  on 
a  separation.  Lamb  slowly  and  mournfully  consented.  It 
was  agreed  on  both  sides  that  the  painful  step  should  be 
taken  with  all  possible  quietness  and  decorum.  At  length 
the  final  arrangements  were  made  and  the  documents  ready 
for  signature.  At  the  last  moment  Lamb  went  to  his  wife's 
room  for  a  final  interview,  and  especially  to  talk  with  her 
about  their  child,  who  was  to  be  left  at  Brocket.  The 
interview  lasted  so  long  that  his  brother  thought  it  right  to 
venture  in,  when  he  found  Lady  Caroline  seated  by  his  side 
tenderly  feeding  him  with  bits  of  thin  bread  and  butter. 
She  had  had  him  to  herself  for  one  half  hour,  and  her  low, 
caressing  voice  had  won  a  short  reprieve. 

This  incident  brings  us  to  the  point  of  time  at  which 
our  main  narrative  should  be  resumed,  but  we  do  not  wish 
to  return,  except  for  a  moment,  to  Lady  Caroline,  and  will 
therefore  anticipate  a  little.  We  have  just  witnessed 
another  of  those  many  episodes  of  which,  as  has  been  said, 
her  married  life  was  made  up.     It  was  one  of  the   most 


TROUBLES   AT   HOME  S$ 

touching  and  most  critical,  but  it  was  not  by  any  means  the 
last.     Words  of  reconciliation  had  been  spoken,  but  closer 
union  was  beyond  hope,  and  the  domestic  wound  remained 
open  for  another  ten  years,  till  it  was  closed  at  last  by  the 
hand  of  death.     There  was  ari  election  for  Westminster  in 
1818,   in  which   George   Lamb    stood   against    Hobhouse. 
Lady   Caroline    entered    heartily   into   the   cause   of    her 
brother-in-law,  and  wrote  a  polite  note  to  Godwin,  begging 
for  his  vote  and  interest,  though  expressing  some  fear  that 
his  well-known  sentiments  would  prevent  him   from  sup- 
porting a  man  of  George  Lamb's  very  lukewarm  politics. 
The  author  of  '  Caleb  Williams '  replied  that  she  was  mis- 
taken ;  though  in  theory  a  republican,  in  practice  he  was  a 
Whig,  and  he  should  be  happy  to  vote  for  George  Lamb. 
This   led  to  a  closer   acquaintance  with  the  philosophical 
novelist,  and  Godwin  one  day  received  a  letter  from  Lady 
Caroline  inviting  him  to  Brocket.     The  intimacy  may  be 
left  to  take  its  course,  but  the  letter  is  a  curiosity.     Lady 
Caroline  wished  to  consult  him   about  her  son,  and   also 
about   herself.     'Tell  me,'   she   said,    'would   you   dislike 
paying  me  a  little  visit  ?  .  .  .    I  am  tormented  with  such 
superabundance  of  activity  and  have  so  little  to  do  that  I 
want  you  to  tell  me  how  to  go  on.     It  is  all  very  well  if 
one   died   at   the   end  of  a  tragic   scene   after   playing   a 
desperate  part  ;  but  if  one  lives,  instead  of  growing  wiser 
one  remains  the  same  victim  of  every  folly  and  passion, 
without  the  excuse  of  youth  and  inexperience.     Pray  say  a 
few  wise  words  to  me      I   have  nothing  to  do — I   mean 
necessarily.     There  is  no  particular   reason  why  I  should 
exist ;  I  conduce  to  no  one's  happiness,  and,  on  the  con- 
trary, I  stand  in  the  way  of  many.     Besides,  I  seem  to  have 
lived  500  years,  and  feel  I  am  neither  better  nor  worse  than 

G  2 


84  LORD   MELBOURNE 

when  I  began.'  Such  were  the  pleasant  confessions  of 
Lady  Caroline.  Godwin  had  his  own  novel  experiences  in 
matrimony,  and  he  happened  by  a  strange  coincidence  or 
fatality  to  be  the  step-father  of  that  Jane  Clermont  who 
had  with  Byron,  soon  after  Lady  Caroline  ceased  to  know 
him,  her  own  obscure  tragedy  of  romance  and  guilt. 
Perhaps  Lady  Caroline  was  not  aware  of  the  fact.  Anyhow, 
Godwin  brought  with  him  no  potent  medicine  for  a  mind 
diseased. 

About  the  same  time  that  she  was  imploring  Godwin 
to  tell  her  how  to  '  go  on,'  she  renewed  the  acquaintance 
with  Lord  Lytton,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  began  when  he 
was  a  boy.  At  her  invitation  he  visited  Brocket,  being  then 
a  Cambridge  student.  He  was  one-and-twenty,  while  she 
was  between  thirty  and  forty,  but  the  disparity  made  no 
difference.  He  fell  beneath  her  tender  spells,  became  for 
a  time  violently  enamoured,  was  driven  half-mad  with 
jealousy,  and  had  to  retreat  to  save  himself.  He  '  lost 
twenty  ounces  of  blood '  and  got  better.  At  a  time  when 
she  chose  to  fancy  herself  dying  she  sent  for  him.  He  sat 
by  her  bedside  for  hours,  and  '  if  ever  counterfeit  tenderness 
seemed  real  hers  did.'  She  contrived  to  write  him  a  few 
lines,  though  forbidden  by  the  doctors.  When  she  recovered, 
though  still  kind  and  affectionate,  there  was  a  coldness  in 
her  manner.  She  begged  that  he  would  be  to  her  like  a 
son  or  the  dearest  of  friends,  but  not  her  lover  ;  yet  uttering 
these  dissuasive  sentiments  with  such  exquisite  grace  that 
the  poor  youth  was  '  more  in  love  with  her  than  ever.'  At 
Lady  Cowper's  ball  the  secret  wras  revealed.  She  never 
spoke  to  him.  Her  dearest  friend  now  was  Mr.  Russell, 
'  a  fashionable  beau,  extremely  handsome,  but  dull,  insipid, 
and  silly.'     When  they  were  all  going  to  bed  Bulwer  said 


TROUBLES   AT   HOME  85 

'  good-bye '  to  her,  announcing  his  intention  to  leave  next 
morning  before  she  was  up.  By  nine  next  morning  he  got 
rom  her  a  note  imploring  him  to  stay.  He  went  to  her 
room.  '  She  entreated  me  to  forgive  her,  threw  her  arms 
about  me,  and  cried.'  At  dinner  Mr.  Russell  sat  opposite 
him.  '  He  wore  a  ring.  It  was  one  which  Lord  Byron 
had  given  Lady  Caroline — one  which  was  only  to  be  worn 
by  those  she  loved.  I  had  often  worn  it  myself.  She  had 
wanted  me  to  accept  it,  but  I  would  not,  because  it  was  so 
costly.  And  now  he  wore  it.'  Bulwer  left  next  morning, 
and  the  night  after  was  in  a  fever.  If  he  had  to  lose  blood 
the  quantity  he  lost  was  not  a  drop  too  much.  '  Lamb, 
by-the-bye,'  says  Bulwer  to  his  friend,  '  was  particularly  kind 
to  me.  I  think  he  saw  my  feelings.  He  is  a  singularly  fine 
character  for  a  man  of  the  world.' 

This  happened  in  1824.  It  was  the  year  of  Byron's 
death.  He  died  in  April,  and  if  Lady  Cowper's  ball,  the 
exact  date  of  which  is  not  given,  took  place  later  in  the 
year,  the  illness  which  brought  Bulwer  to  her  bedside,  and 
which  rendered  another  passion  necessary  for  her  conva- 
lescence, may  have  been  anything  but  fictitious.  That 
event  threw  her  for  a  time  into  utter  prostration.  Riding 
out  one  morning,  at  the  gates  of  Brocket  Park  she  met  a 
hearse  and  mourning  coaches.  Asking  whose  funeral  it 
was,  she  was  told  it  was  Lord  Byron's.  He  had  been 
brought  over  from  Missolonghi  to  be  buried.  It  was  the 
first  news  she  had  received  of  his  death,  and  its  suddenness 
gave  her  a  severe  shock.  But  the  symptoms  of  her  re- 
covery were  more  remarkable  than  her  illness,  affording  a 
further  illustration  of  the  fact  that  love  with  her  was  more 
an  affair  of  the  imagination  than  of  the  heart,  and  that  a 
change  of  object,  or  some  new  device  for  relieving  her  from 


86  LORD   MELBOURNE 

the  burden  of  inactivity,  was  always  enough  to  effect  a  cure. 
After  Byron's  death  she  gave  herself  up  to  livelier  escapades 
than  ever.     Every  day  brought  with  it  some  new  extrava- 
gance.    She  would  leap  into  the  middle  of  the  dining-table 
to  give  a  lesson   to    the  startled  butler  as   to  the  proper 
height  of  a  centre-piece.     On  going  to  a  ball  she  would  in- 
sist upon  taking  her  seat  by  the  side  of  the  coachman,  and 
throw  herself  into  the  arms  of  the  footman  on  getting  down. 
At  the  same  time  she  grew  more  and  more  exacting  at 
home.     She  quarrelled  with  her  husband  for  his  impassive- 
ness.     It  would  have  pleased  her  better  if  he  had  stormed 
away  in  return,  as  he  sometimes  did  when  human  nature 
could   stand  the   strain    no   longer,  raining   upon   her   '  a 
terrible  tempest   of  rebuke   and  ridicule,  intermixed  with 
reasoning  harder  to  bear  than  either,  for  the  space  of  half 
an  hour.'     Then  he  would  relent,  and  all  be  calm  again  for 
a  time.     But   these   things  were  of  daily  occurrence,  and 
there  was  not  a  moment  when  she  might  not  fly  off  into 
paroxysms  of  ungovernable  rage.     One  night,  after  a  scene 
at  the  dinner  table  at  Melbourne  House,  he  quietly  ordered 
his   horses   and   drove   off  to    Brocket.     While   pensively 
musing  during  the  small   hours,  he   heard  a  noise  in  the 
corridor,  and   on   opening   the  door  found   his  wife  lying 
there,  'convulsed,'  says  Mr.  Torrens,  'with  what  she  took 
for  grief.'     At  last  the   fatal  hour   had  come.     Separation 
seemed   to   be   the   only  alternative.     Both  families   con- 
curred in  recognising  its  necessity,  and  did  what  they  could 
to  lighten   the  blow.     Lady  Caroline  was  left  at  Brocket, 
and  her  husband  divided  his  time  between  the  two  Mel- 
bourne Houses  at  Whitehall   and   in  Derbyshire.     Corre- 
spondence was  kept  up,  there   were  occasional  visits  and 
something  like  the  old  love,  or  something  better,  seemed 


TROUBLES   AT   HOME  87 

to  grow  up  through  the  crevices  of  later  ruins.  Her  hus- 
band had  treated  her  seriously  enough  at  last,  but  her 
health  was  shattered,  and  the  rest  of  her  life  was  but  a  slow 
lingering  on  the  way  to  the  grave.  In  her  confidential 
letters  she  spoke  of  him  with  respect  and  gratitude  as  her 
best  protector  and  truest  friend,  whom  alone  she  had  ever 
really  loved.  In  December  1825  she  sent  him  in  a  letter 
the  following  verses.  They  are  a  tribute  to  herself  as  well 
as  to  him,  and  may  well  conclude  this  sad  part  of  our 
narrative  : 

Loved  one !  No  tear  is  in  mine  eye, 
Though  pangs  my  bosom  thrill, 

For  I  have  learned  when  others  sigh 
To  suffer  and  be  still. 

Passion  and  pride  and  flatt'ry  strove, 

They  made  a  wreck  of  me, 
But  oh !  I  never  ceased  to  love, 

I  never  loved  but  thee. 

My  heart  is  with  our  early  dream 

And  still  thy  influence  knows, 
Still  seeks  thy  shadow  on  the  stream 

Of  memory  as  it  flows  : 

Still  hangs  o'er  all  the  records  bright 

Of  moments  brighter  still 
Ere  love  withdrew  his  starry  light, 

Ere  thou  hadst  suffered  ill. 

'Tis  vain  !  'tis  vain  !  no  human  will 

<  an  bid  that  time  return  ; 
There's  not  a  light  on  earth  can  fill 

Again  love's  darkened  urn. 

Tis  vain — upon  my  heart,  my  brow, 

Broods  grief  no  words  can  tell, 
But  grief  itself  were  idle  now — 

Loved  one,  fare  thee  well, 


88  LORD   MELBOURNE 


CHAPTER   VI 

A    FOLLOWER    OF    MR.    CANNING 

Again  in  Parliament — Influence  of  Huskisson — The  charm  of  Canning 
— Lamb  a  convert,  but  does  not  leave  his  party,  and  sometimes  votes 
with  it — Votes  for  a  committee  of  inquiry  into  the  public  expendi- 
ture— Speaks  in  favour  of  a  reduction  of  expenditure — Votes  for  the 
suspension  of  Habeas  Corpus  and  for  the  Six  Acts — Opposed  to 
Parliamentary  Reform — The  Catholic  Association — Queen  Caroline 
— Impecuniosity — A  philosophy  of  credit — Proclaimed  a  political 
renegade,  and  '  out '  once  more. 

From  these  scenes  of  domestic  discord  and  chagrin,  it  is 
some  relief  to  step  again  into  the  more  bracing  atmosphere 
of  politics.  In  1816  William  Lamb  returned  to  the  House 
of  Commons  as  member  for  Northampton.  The  previous 
year  his  father  had  been  raised  to  the  peerage  of  the  United 
Kingdom  as  Baron  Melbourne.  This  was  the  fulfilment  of 
a  hope  which  had  long  been  anxiously  cherished.  It  also 
gave  fixity  to  Lamb's  prospects  by  promising  him  some  day 
a  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords.  On  re-entering  the  House 
he  took  his  place  as  a  matter  of  course  among  his  old 
friends  on  the  opposition  benches  ;  but  his  opinions  were 
still  in  the  making,  and  they  had  undergone  some  change. 
He  had  lately  seen  more  of  his  relative  Mr.  Huskisson, 
whose  abilities  he  was  beginning  to  respect.  Huskisson  was 
personally  attached  to  Canning.  He  had  spent  the  previous 
Christmas  at  Brocket,  and  talked  over  the  state  of  politics 


A  FOLLOWER  OF   MR.  CANNING  89 

with  Lady  Melbourne.  He  foresaw  that  Mr.  Canning 
would  soon  join  the  Government,  and  hoped  that  her  son 
would  be  again  in  the  House  before  long.  The  two  things 
were  joined  together  in  his  thoughts,  and  he  probably  felt 
that  he  had  already  made  a  convert. 

It  did  not  need  much  persuasion  to  bring  Lamb  over  to 
the  side  of  Canning.  The  eloquence  of  the  brilliant  ex- 
minister  was  of  a  kind  which  his  own  intellectual  qualities 
disposed  him  to  admire — ornate,  resonant,  and  magni- 
ficently periodic,  stronger  far  on  the  score  of  rhetoric  than 
in  solid  argument.  Canning,  moreover,  seemed  to  have 
struck  out  a  middle  course  between  the  unyielding  Toryism 
of  Liverpool  and  Sidmouth  and  the  reforming  tendencies  of 
the  Whigs.  He  offered  an  alternative  to  either  extreme,  a 
line  of  action  in  which  it  would  be  possible  for  a  man  of 
moderate  abilities  to  figure  to  advantage.  In  addition  to 
all  this,  it  appeared  likely,  on  a  fair  calculation  of  proba- 
bilities, that  Canning  had  the  future  in  his  grasp.  It  would 
require  something  like  a  revolution  to  bring  the  Whigs  into 
power.  What  the  people  at  large  would  do  if  they  had  the 
suffrage  in  their  hands  it  was  useless  to  conjecture.  The 
House  of  Commons  held  the  pass,  and  was  not  likely  to 
surrender.  But  it  was  quite  on  the  cards  that  Canning 
might  succeed  in  transforming  the  ministry  and  in  throwing 
open  the  door  of  office  to  outsiders  whose  views  were  liberal 
without  being,  as  the  phrase  went,  revolutionary.  There 
was  no  telling  what  he  might  not  do.  He  was  ambitious, 
he  had  splendid  talents,  he  was  the  most  powerful  speaker 
in  the  House,  his  enterprising  policy  when  at  the  Foreign 
Office  touched  the  popular  imagination,  he  could  lay  some 
claim  to  the  mantle  of  William  Pitt.  As  the  advocate  of 
Catholic  Emancipation,  and  favourable  to  more  enlightened 


90  LORD    MELBOURNE 

views  in  matters  of  commerce,  he  had  some  hold  upon 
Liberal  sentiment,  while  he  gratified  the  Tories  by  his 
unmeasured  denunciation  of  all  approaches  to  Parliamen- 
tary reform.  He  was  a  politician  of  the  market  as  well  as 
of  the  forum.  He  knew  how  to  make  a  bargain,  and  com- 
prehended that  in  order  to  get  it  was  necessary  to  give. 
Hence  he  placed  his  wit  and  eloquence  and  sarcasm  at  the 
service  of  the  enemies  of  progress  as  the  condition  on  which 
he  might  hope  to  rule.  Nevertheless,  he  was  one  of  those 
men  who  catch  the  spirit  of  the  time  and  become  the  inter- 
preters of  the  age  in  which  they  live.  What  he  would  have 
done  if  his  life  had  been  prolonged  after  he  reached 
supreme  power  can  hardly  be  inferred  from  anything  that 
he  actually  did. 

Henceforth  Lamb  must  be  regarded  as  a  disciple  of 
Canning.  He  was  the  first  of  the  Whigs  to  yield  to  his 
influence,  and  for  a  long  time  the  only  one.  He  did  not 
think  it  necessary  to  change  sides.  On  the  question  oi 
party  allegiance  he  held  peculiar  views.  '  In  politics,'  he 
remarks  in  his  journal,  '  you  may  serve  the  cause  of  wisdom 
and  justice  better  by  remaining  with  those  to  whom  you 
have  attached  yourself,  even  after  you  disapprove  much  of 
their  conduct  and  prefer  that  of  their  adversaries,  than  by 
leaving  them.'  This  appears  to  have  been  the  principle  on 
which  he  acted.  There  were,  of  course,  many  buestions  on 
which  he  could  speak  and  vote  with  his  old  friends.  It 
was  so  with  the  first  movements  of  the  Opposition  in  1816. 
In  the  debate  on  the  Address  Mr.  Brand  moved  an  amend- 
ment pledging  the  House  to  a  rigid  inquiry  into  the  public 
expenditure.  Lord  John  Russell  seconded  the  amend- 
ment, remarking  in  the  course  of  his  speech  that  '  the  bare 
proposal  that  a  standing  army  of  150,000  men  should  be 


A    FOLLOWER   OF   MR.  CANNING  91 

supported  must  alarm  every  friend  to  his  country  and  its 
constitution.'     Lamb  voted  for  the  amendment.     He  voted 
also  for  Lord  Althorp's  motion   for  the  appointment  of  a 
Select  Committee  to  inquire  into  the  pay  of  public  officers 
with   a  view  to  retrenchment,   and  in  a  speech  of  some 
length   condemned   the   proposal   of  the    Government    to 
substitute  a  Treasury  Commission  for  a  Select  Committee, 
declaring  that  the  House  ought  to  look  into  these  matters 
for  itself.     So  at  the  commencement  of  the  session  of  181 7, 
when    Mr.    Ponsonby,    as    the   leader   of  the    Opposition, 
moved  an  amendment  to  the  Address,  expressing   regret 
that,  in  view  of  the  prevailing  distress,  the  Government  had 
not  thought  it  right  to  reduce  the  public  expenditure,  Lamb 
supported  the  amendment  in  an  elaborate  speech.     Can- 
ning, who  had  recently  taken  office  as  President  of  the 
Board  of  Control,  in  replying  to  the  speech  took  occasion 
to  pay  a  compliment  to   Lamb,  referring  to  him  as   'an 
honourable  gentleman  who  never  spoke  without  making  a 
deep  impression  by  his  eloquence  and  ability.'     It  was  a 
dazzling  bait,  and  with  or  without  it  the   fish  was  caught. 
Henceforth  on  all  important  questions  Lamb  took  his  cue 
from  Canning. 

Such  questions  were  not  long  in  coming.  As  yet  the 
Government  were  in  the  shallows,  but  popular  discontent 
was  rising  fast,  and  they  were  soon  to  be  assailed  on  all 
sides  by  the  surging  flood.  The  country  was  in  a  deplor- 
able condition.  Peace  had  come  after  a  quarter  of  a 
century  of  war,  but  it  had  not  been  followed  by  plenty. 
During  those  years  the  nation,  in  addition  to  its  enormous 
taxation,  had  spent  hundreds  of  millions  of  borrowed 
capital,  drawing  a  heavy  bill  upon  posterity.  The  National 
Debt  stood  at  860,000,000/.,  and  the  annual  charge,  include 


92  LORD   MELBOURNE 

ing  the  sinking  fund,  amounted  to  more  than  46,000,000/. 
'  The  charge  of  the  debt,'  says  Mr.  Spencer  Walpole,  '  was 
more  than  twice  the  sum  required  for  the  whole  expenditure 
of  the  State  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.'  Most  of  the  money 
raised  by  loans  had  been  spent  at  home.  One  result  had 
been  an  artificial  stimulus  to  industry  and  a  higher  rate  of 
increase  in  the  population.  With  the  close  of  the  war  there 
came  a  great  recoil,  and  multitudes  were  thrown  out  of 
employment.  To  add  to  the  hardships  of  the  poor  the 
season  of  1816  was  one  of  the  worst  on  record.  The  price 
of  wheat  rose  to  105  shillings  a  quarter,  and  the  average 
wages  of  working-men  were  not  enough  to  find  their  families 
in  bread.  The  taxes  were  ruinous  to  all,  except,  it  was 
said,  to  those  who  lived  upon  them,  and  they  were  legion. 
It  was  only  natural  that  this  wide-spread  suffering  should 
lead  to  political  discontent,  and  that  discontent  should  grow 
into  disaffection.  The  Government  were  not  responsible 
for  the  distress  which  prevailed,  and  no  measures  they 
could  have  taken  would  have  brought  effectual  relief.  The 
malady,  so  far  as  it  was  political,  lay  in  a  want  of  sympathy 
between  the  people  and  the  governing  classes,  and  in  the 
absolute  impossibility  of  compelling  the  attention  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  It  seemed  to  the  people  that  their 
rulers  were  deaf,  blind,  and  dumb.  Hence  a  cry  went  up  every- 
where for  Parliamentary  Reform.  In  the  meantime  spies  were 
busy  at  work,  employed  by  the  Government  as  volunteers 
if  not  sought  out  by  them,  and  alarming  reports  were 
poured  in  at  headquarters.  There  was  a  great  meeting 
of  all  shades  of  Radicals  at  Spa  Fields,  a  mock  march 
upon  the  Tower,  and  a  raid  upon  the  gunsmiths  on 
Snow  Hill.  The  climax  was  reached  when  stones  were 
thrown  at  the  Prince  Regent's  carriage.     The  Government 


A  FOLLOWER  OF  MR.  CANNING  93 

felt  it  was  time  to  take  action  when  his  sacred  person  was 
assailed. 

This  was  a  crucial  and  perhaps  a  cruel  test  for  Lamb. 
He  was  named  a  member  of  the   Secret    Committee   of 
Inquiry   which   was   appointed   at   the   instance    of   Lord 
Sidmouth  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the  reports  that 
had  been  forwarded  to  the  Government.     The  Government 
had,  as  was  usual,  a  large  majority  on  the  committee,  and 
the  result  of  their  deliberations  was  a  series  of  Bills,  among 
them  one  for   suspending   the    Habeas    Corpus  Act,   and 
another  for  suppressing  seditious  meetings.      Lamb   sup- 
ported both.     Mr.  Torrens  says  that  '  as  a  member  of  the 
Secret  Committee,  he  was  ready  to  bear  his  share  of  any 
odium  that  might  be  excited  by  measures  founded  upon 
their  report.'     But  he  was  not  required  to  approve  of  those 
measures  because  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  committee. 
Other    Liberals   had   been   on    it,  and  were   among   their 
strongest  opponents.     Though  in  very  bad  health,  the  Bill 
for  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  brought  Lord 
John  Russell  down  to  the  House.     '  I  am  determined,'  he 
said  in  his  speech,  '  that  no  weakness  of  frame,  no  indispo- 
sition  of   body,   shall   prevent  me  from   protesting  against 
the  most  dangerous  precedent  which  this  House  ever  made.' 
Referring  to  the  fact  that  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  had  been 
presented  for  the  Royal  Assent  at  the  very  height  of  the 
so-called  Popish  Plot,  he  said,  '  We  talk  much,  I  think  a 
great  deal  too  much,  of  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors.     I 
wish  we  would  imitate  the  courage  of  our  ancestors.     They 
were  not  ready  to  lay  their  liberties  at  the  foot  of  the  throne 
upon  every  vain  and  imaginary  alarm.'     Lamb  was  proof 
against  this  appeal,  and  followed  Canning  into  the  Govern- 
ment lobby  :  while  Brougham,  Burdctt,  Folkestone,  Mackin- 


94  LORD   MELBOURNE 

tosh,   Rom  illy,   Tavistock,  Althorp,  and  Cavendish  passed 
into  the  other. 

The  next  test  which  his  political  virtue  had  to  undergo 
was  furnished  in  connection  with  the  famous  meeting  held 
in   St.   Peter's   Fields,  Manchester,  and  ending  in   what   is 
commonly  known  as  the  '  Peterloo  Massacre.'     At  the  order 
of  a  magistrate  a  troop  of  Yeomanry  Cavalry  had  pushed 
their  way  through  the  crowd  to  serve  a  writ  on  Mr.  Hunt, 
one  of  the  speakers  on  the  platform.     Not  being  able  to  get 
through  easily,  the  yeomanry  struck  out  with  their  swords. 
A  scene  of  frightful  disorder  ensued,  and  matters  became 
still  worse  when  the  Hussars  were  ordered  up  to  clear  the 
ground.      The   first   rumours   which   spread    through    the 
country  were  much  exaggerated,  and  the  name  which  tra- 
dition has  given  to  the  affair  suggests  the  idea  of  extensive 
slaughter.     It  was  found  at  the  end  of  the  day  that  six 
persons   had   been  killed,  including  one  of  the  yeomanry 
and  a  special  constable.     More  than  seventy  were  wounded. 
The  news  made  a  great  sensation  throughout  the  country. 
The  Government  sent  letters  of  thanks  in  the  name  of  the 
Prince  Regent  to  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  magistrates, 
and  Parliament  wras  summoned  to  pass  the  measures  which 
were  thought  necessary.     They  are  known  as  the  Six  Acts, 
and  a  stain  of  infamy  has  never  ceased  to  attach  to  them. 
Their   general   object   was   to   increase  the   power  of  the 
magistrates,  to  put  down  seditious  meetings,  and  to  limit 
still  further  the  freedom  of  the  press  by  making  the  law  of 
libel  more  stringent  and  extending  the  newspaper  stamp  to 
publications  which  had  hitherto  been  exempt.     By  seditious 
meetings  all  meetings  were  understood  which  were  held  to 
discuss  the  conduct  of  ministers  or  to  promote  a  reform 
of  Parliament.     Such  meetings  could  not  be  held  in  future 


A   FOLLOWER   OF   MR.  CANNING  95 

without  the  licence  of  a  magistrate,  who  was  authorised 
to  preside  over  them  and  maintain  order.  When  these 
measures  were  brought  forward,  Lord  Althorp  moved  as 
an  alternative  the  appointment  of  a  Select  Committee  to 
inquire  into  the  conduct  of  the  magistrates  at  Manchester, 
and  Lamb  spoke  in  support  of  the  motion,  alleging  that 
an  inquiry  was  desirable,  in  the  interest  of  the  magistrates 
themselves.  Lord  Althorp's  proposal  was  soon  disposed  of. 
The  Six  Acts  were  not  carried  without  strenuous  and  pro- 
tracted opposition.  A  few  of  the  old  W^higs  voted  with  the 
Government,  but  the  party  as  a  whole  stood  firm.  Lamb 
might  have  found  a  very  good  reason  for  taking  the  same 
course,  since  the  Committee  of  Inquiry  which  he  thought 
necessary  had  been  refused,  but  he  went  with  his  new 
friends. 

In  his  speech  on  Lord  Althorp's  motion  Lamb  had 
referred  incidentally  to  the  question  of  Parliamentary 
reform.  He  said  he  understood  that  an  honourable  friend 
of  his  was  about  to  bring  forward  a  measure  to  effect  a 
reform  in  Parliament.  He  should  be  ready  to  support  it  if 
he  thought  its  provisions  good,  but  he  had  hitherto  objected 
to  the  plans  of  the  advocates  of  Parliamentary  reform, 
because  he  thought  them  not  likely  to  effect  their  object, 
and  tending  to  degrade  rather  than  to  improve  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  people.  Canning,  the  uncompromising 
opponent  of  all  reform,  might  have  said  the  same.  The 
allusion  was  to  a  notice  which  Lord  John  Russell  had  given 
of  his  intention  to  move  the  disfranchisement  of  the 
borough  of  Grampound.  The  borough  in  question  was 
neither  better  nor  worse  than  any  dozen  of  other  Cornish 
boroughs,  but  in  its  case  the  mask  of  secrecy  had  acci- 
dentally fallen  off  through  a  quarrel  between  the  candidates, 


g6  LORD   MELBOURNE 

and    its   corruption   had  become  notorious.     Lord  John's 
motion  comprised  four  points  ;  the  disfranchisement  of  all 
boroughs  where  gross  bribery  and  corruption  were  shown  to 
prevail,  the  transfer  of  the  seats  to  some  great  town  or  to 
the  largest   counties,  the   duty  of  the   House   to   provide 
better   means   for   the   detection   of  bribery   at   elections, 
and  the  immediate  disfranchisement  of  Grampound.     The 
Government  met  him  half-way,  offering  to  accept  a  Bill  for 
the  disfranchisement  of  Grampound  if  he  would  withdraw 
his  resolutions,  and  he  fell  in  with  the  proposal,  satisfied 
with  having  taken  a  first  step,  though  a  short  one,  in  the 
direction  of  reform.     For  the  present  there  was  no  hope  of 
being  able  to  do  anything  more,  and  there  was  some  wisdom 
in  fixing  public  attention  on  the  most  conspicuous  vices  of 
the  system.     In  one  sense  it  was  no  doubt  absurd  to  pounce 
down  upon  a  particular  group  of  sinners  when  most  of  the 
boroughs  were  in  the  hands  of  private  patrons,  and  numbers 
were   regularly  bought   and   sold.     But  a  nice   distinction 
might   be    set   up  between   buying  from   a  proprietor  and 
buying   from   the   voters   direct.      It   is   not   worth   while 
attempting   to    assess    the    relative    morality   of    the   two 
processes,  but  patrons  as  a  rule  liked  to  keep  the  burgesses 
in  their  own  hands.     When  Lord  Palmerston  was  returned 
for  Newtown,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  in   1807,  Sir  Leonard 
Holmes  made  it  a  condition  that  he  would  never,  even  for 
the  election,  set  foot  in   the   place,    '  so  jealous   was   the 
patron  lest  any  attempt  should  be  made  to  get  a  new  interest 
in  the  borough.'     Lamb  remarked  it  as  an  inconsistency  in 
Lord  John  Russell  that  he  proposed  the  disfranchisement 
of  corrupt  boroughs  while  he  himself  sat  for  Tavistock,  a 
pocket  borough  belonging  to  his  father  the  Duke  of  Bedford. 
It  is  perhaps  a  sufficient  answer  that  in  attacking  the  vast 


A   FOLLOWER   OF    MR.  CANNING  97 

fortress  of  corruption  it  was  necessary  to  begin  somewhere, 
and  that  a  bad  system  could  hardly  be  put  to  a  better  use 
than  by  making  it  the  means  of  hastening  its  own  extinction. 
Certain  it  is  that  the  discussions  raised  in  Parliament  at 
intervals  for  a  period  of  ten  years  over  the  rotten  boroughs 
of  Grampound,  Penryn,  and  East  Retford  did  much  to 
quicken  the  indignation  of  the  public,  and  to  prepare  the 
way  for  a  comprehensive  measure  of  reform. 

With  the  reform  movement  Lamb  at  this  period  of  his 
career  had  no  sympathy.  He  might  excusably  take  alarm 
at  the  extensive  scheme  proposed  by  Sir  Francis  Burdett, 
and  hailed  with  enthusiasm  by  Radicals  out  of  doors  ;  but 
he  looked  with  suspicion  upon  the  tentative  and  preparatory 
proposals  of  Lord  John  Russell.  He  was  thinking  out  his 
half-formed  views  on  the  subject,  and  the  result  so  far  was 
in  favour  of  standing  still.  It  is  hardly  fair  to  quote 
passages  from  his  journal,  since  he  obviously  took  no  pains 
with  them,  and  they  are  wanting  in  clearness,  but  they  show 
the  drift  of  his  thoughts.  Thus  he  writes  :  '  Majority — will 
of  all — cannot  acquiesce  in  it,  touch  upon  it  with  reluctance 
— in  curia popuhun  defenderem,  etc.,  but  cannot  go  so  far  as 
to  admit,  when  I  am  speaking,  that  the  majority  of  the 
people  are  always  in  the  right.'  This  is  a  proposition  which 
few  would  maintain,  and  it  should  hardly  have  proved  a 
stumbling-block.  He  notices  the  '  great  increase  of  persons 
who  think  upon  and  take  an  active  part  in  politics,'  and  the 
1  great  rise  into  political  power  of  merchants,  manufacturers, 
and  persons  raised  into  consequence  by  the  increasing  trade 
of  the  country.'  He  reflects  upon  the  '  extreme  importance 
that  correct  notions  should  be  formed  by  such  persons,  and 
that  they  should  not  immediately  think  that  nothing  is  so 
easy  as  to  reform  the  system,  and  to  exclude  every  evil 

H 


98  LORD   MELBOURNE 

which  has  heretofore  been  admitted.'  He  regards  it  as  a 
reason  against  reform  that  '  it  will  not  be  attended  by  any  ot 
the  benefits  expected  from  it,  and  then  more  and  more  will 
be  required,  till  the  original  argument  against  any  innovation 
will  be  lost.'  He  anticipates  that  a  reform  of  Parliament 
will  lead  to  a  '  total  destruction  of  freedom  of  speech,'  the 
reason  given  being  that  such  a  House  of  Commons  as  then 
existed,  having  a  consciousness  of  its  defects,  was  patient 
of  criticism,  while  a  House  elected  '  according  to  what  is 
called  theory  and  principle  '  will  not  allow  itself  to  be  freely 
and  violently  censured.  These  remarks,  though  desultory, 
illustrate  his  methods  of  reasoning.  They  show  the  sort  of 
logic  he  used  with  himself.  The  time  came  when  he  threw 
his  conclusions  to  the  winds,  but  he  was  then  under  the 
stress  of  altered  circumstances. 

On  January  20,  1820,  George  III.  passed  away.  Owing 
to  his  long  seclusion  it  was  an  event  of  no  importance. 
The  Prince  Regent  became  King,  and  a  numeral  was 
changed  in  the  royal  title.  But  when  the  Prince  became 
King,  the  Princess  of  Wales  became  Queen,  and  this  neces- 
sary incident  of  his  accession  brought  the  long  quarrel 
between  them  to  a  climax.  The  storm  had  long  been 
brewing.  Since  181 3  the  Princess  had  lived  abroad, 
wandering  through  various  countries  of  the  East,  as  far  as 
Ephesus  and  Jerusalem,  and  finally  taking  up  a  more 
permanent  residence  in  Italy.  Her  conduct  had  been 
eccentric  and  more  than  indiscreet.  Rumours  highly 
unfavourable  to  her  reputation  had  reached  England,  and 
spies  were  not  wanting  who,  in  communicating  with  their 
employers  at  home,  painted  her  character  in  the  darkest 
colours.  Two  years  before  the  King's  accession  a  Com- 
mission had  been  sent  to  Milan  to  inquire  into  her  conduct 


A   FOLLOWER   OF   MR.    CANNING  99 

A  heap  of  incriminatory  evidence  was   accumulated  and 
submitted  to  ministers,  who  were  loth  to  touch  it.     One  of 
the  first  things  the  King  did  on  coming  to  the  throne  was 
to  order  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  omit  the  Queen's 
name  from  the  Liturgy,  and  direct  Lord  Liverpool  to  prepare 
a  Bill  for  a  divorce.     The  prelate  did  as  he  was  bid  ■  the 
Prime  Minister  refused.     The  King  was  told  pretty  plainly 
the  predicament  in  which  he  stood.     Divorce  Bills  were 
not  uncommon.     They  were  the  means  devised  by  custom 
for  overriding  the  matrimonial  law  of  the  church.     By  the 
law  as  administered  in  the  church-courts  the  marriage  tie 
could  not  be  severed  ;  but  as  an  Act  of  Parliament  could  do 
anything,  it  could  separate  man  and  wife.     Divorce  was 
then,  as  it  remained  till  our  days,  a  luxury  in  which  only 
the  rich  could  indulge.     But  in  ordinary  cases,  the  House 
of  Lords,  in  whose  hands,  by  a  wise  abstinence  on  the  part 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  such  Bills  were  usually  left, 
did   not   refuse   to   admit   recriminatory  evidence,    and   a 
husband  who  could  be  shown  to  have  committed  the  same 
offence  with  which  he  charged  his  wife  was  disentitled  to 
relief.     How,  then,  would  it  stand  with  the  King?     His 
licentiousness  was  notorious.     A  list  could  be  made  of  his 
mistresses.     One  of  them  he  had  appointed  to  attend  upon 
his  wife  when  she  first  came  over  as  his  bride.     He  had 
been  unfaithful  from  the  first  day  of  his  married  life.     It 
was  almost  certain  that  the  ceremony  which  made  her  his 
wife  made  him  a  bigamist.     At  that  moment  he  was  still 
living   in   the   practice   of  the   sin   which   he   affected   to 
condemn.     Then,  or  a  little  later,  the  reigning  beauty  might 
be  seen  at  his  table  with  the  jewels  which  had  been  his 
daughter's   flaming  on  her  forehead.     How  could  such  a 
man,  even  though  a  king,  venture  to  go  to  Parliament  for  a 

11  2 


100  LORD    MELBOURNE 

divorce  ?  Another  course  was  open  to  him.  Adultery  in 
a  Queen  consort  or  a  Princess  of  Wales  was  high  treason. 
For  this  crime  Henry  VIII.  sent  two  of  his  wives  to  the 
block.  He  might  do  the  same  ;  but,  if  he  did,  it  would 
jeopardise  his  crown. 

The  great  hope  of  the  Government  was  that  the  Queen 
might  be  prevailed  upon  to  remain  abroad.  In  that  case 
they  were  prepared  to  permit  her  to  retain  the  royal  title, 
to  make  her  a  handsome  allowance,  and  to  arrange  that  at 
the  courts  she  was  likely  to  visit  she  should  be  received  with 
the  honours  proper  to  her  rank.  Brougham,  whom  she  had 
made  her  Attorney-General,  approved  of  this  course  ;  but 
the  advice  he  tendered  had  to  yield  to  her  peremptory  will. 
The  Queen  was  resolved  upon  coming  to  England.  She 
entered  London  amid  an  extraordinary  display  of  popular 
enthusiasm.  Ministers  then  relented,  and  the  same  night 
the  King  sent  a  message  to  both  Houses,  directing  attention 
to  the  documentary  evidence  touching  the  conduct  of  the 
Queen,  which  he  had  ordered  to  be  laid  before  them.  The 
Lords  appointed  a  committee  to  examine  the  evidence,  and 
on  the  presentation  of  their  report,  which  was  adverse  to 
the  Queen,  Lord  Liverpool  brought  in  a  Bill  '  to  deprive 
her  Majesty  Queen  Caroline  Amelia  Elizabeth  of  the  title, 
prerogatives,  rights,  privileges,  and  exemptions  of  Queen 
consort  of  the  realm,  and  to  dissolve  the  marriage  between 
his  Majesty  and  the  said  Caroline  Amelia  Elizabeth.'  The 
recrimination  difficulty  was  got  over  by  a  legal  quibble. 
Lord  Eldon  held  that,  as  this  was  a  public  Bill,  the  King 
did  not  appear  as  plaintiff,  and  recriminating  pleas  might  be 
rejected.  The  discussion  on  the  Bill  went  on  for  months. 
Witnesses  were  examined  on  the  minutest  details.  On  this 
occasion    the    members    exercised    their   rights,   instead  of 


A   FOLLOWER   OF    MR.    CANNING  IOI 

leaving  the  Bill  in  the  hands  of  the  law  lords,  and  prurient 
peers  had  splendid  opportunities.  A  magnificent  throne 
was  prepared  for  the  King,  who,  however,  did  not  appear, 
and  the  Queen  sat  on  a  chair  of  state  before  the  bar.  All 
England  attended  the  trial,  and  every  morning  the  press 
poured  forth  the  disgusting  story  to  listening  millions.  The 
public  mind  had  never  been  so  absorbed  before.  The 
Peterloo  massacre,  the  Cato  Street  conspiracy,  the  state 
prisoners  at  York  Castle,  the  repressive  operation  of  the 
Six  Acts,  all  political  cries  and  grievances  and  wrongs  were 
forgotten  in  this  great  issue.  The  Radicals  became  the 
most  loyal  of  all  in  their  enthusiasm  for  an  injured  Queen. 
The  mass  of  the  people  '  rose '  against  the  Bill,  which  slowly 
went  on  its  way  with  waning  fortunes.  The  second  reading 
was  carried  by  123  votes  to  95  ;  the  third  reading  by  108 
to  99.  This  was  enough.  It  would  have  been  useless  to 
send  it  to  the  Commons  with  no  larger  majority  in  its 
favour,  and  Lord  Liverpool  forthwith  announced  its  with 
drawal.  The  great  case  was  at  an  end,  and  the  nation  went 
frantic  with  delight.  The  Queen,  whose  guilt  few  dis- 
passionate minds  could  affect  to  doubt,  was  the  heroine  of 
the  hour.  Thousands  of  fathers  and  mothers,  in  the 
innocence  of  their  hearts,  when  they  carried  their  infant 
daughters  to  the  font,  gave  them  the  name  of  Caroline. 

One  has  to  overcome  a  certain  sense  of  disproportion  in 
asking  how  Lamb  bore  himself  in  the  Parliamentary  con- 
troversy ;  hut  it  must  be  admitted  that  few  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons  had  stronger  reasons  for  taking  a 
personal  interest  in  it  than  he.  All  through  the  days  of 
the  Regency,  and  still  more  in  the  earlier  days  before  it 
began,  the  King  had  been  the  unwavering  friend  and  patron 
of   Melbourne  House.      Lamb  had  been  bred  to  feel  as 

LIBRARY 

ST*TC  TEACHER'S  CnL'  EGE 
SA..TA  oARBA-RA.  CALIFORNIA 


102  LORD   MELBOURNE 

much  reverence  for  him  as  it  was  possible  to  entertain 
towards  one  who  was  something  less  than  a  galaxy  of  per- 
fections. He  had  found  in  him  a  godfather  for  his  son. 
The  question  on  which  he  had  to  form  an  opinion  and  to 
vote  was,  in  some  measure,  a  test  of  his  manliness  and 
independence,  and  on  the  whole  he  stood  it  well.  His  own 
sad  domestic  experience  helped  to  sharpen  his  insight  and 
quicken  his  sympathies.  Among  all  who  had  to  take  action 
in  the  matter,  there  was  no  more  competent  judge.  Though 
fully  alive  to  the  Queen's  misconduct,  he  could  not  take 
sides  with  the  King.  After  the  Bill  was  withdrawn,  he 
went  with  the  Opposition  in  endeavouring  to  give  the 
Queen's  name  its  proper  place  in  the  Liturgy.  He  voted 
twice  against  the  Government  on  this  question,  and  he 
supported  the  vote  of  censure  which  was  proposed  on  the 
policy  they  had  pursued  from  first  to  last.  In  taking  this 
course,  he  happened  also  to  be  in  perfect  harmony  with 
his  political  master.  Canning  had  discountenanced  the 
proceedings  against  the  Queen  from  the  very  beginning. 
When  the  Milan  papers  were  sent  to  him  for  perusal,  he 
refused  to  break  the  seal.  When  the  Bill  of  Pains  and 
Penalties  was  introduced,  he  went  off  to  Paris  to  be  out  of 
the  reach  of  the  discussion  ;  and  when  it  seemed  likely  to 
be  dragged  over  into  another  year  beyond  the  period  for 
which  his  absence  could,  with  any  decency,  be  prolonged, 
he  resigned  his  office  at  the  Board  of  Control  and  quitted 
the  Government. 

From  these  ignominious  shoals  the  nation  soon  floated 
into  deeper  water.  The  question  of  Catholic  Emancipation 
was  gathering  force,  to  hold  henceforth  a  dominant  place  in 
domestic  politics  till  it  was  settled,  or  rather  carried  on  a 
stage  further,  by  the  surrender  of   1829.     The  revival  of 


A   FOLLOWER  OF  MR.   CANNING  103 

agitation  in  Ireland  was  due  to  despair,  the  offspring  of  hope 
deferred.  The  question  was  made  an  open  one  in  the 
Cabinet,  but  the  King  was  inflexible,  and  so  long  as  men 
were  willing  to  serve  him  at  the  cost  of  suppressing  their 
convictions  the  opinions  they  held  were  of  little  value.  Eight 
times  between  1805  and  1820  Bills  or  resolutions  on  the 
subject  had  been  brought  before  Parliament,  but  all  had 
failed.  The  earlier  ones  were  rejected  by  the  House  of 
Commons,  but  for  some  years  past  successful  opposition  had 
been  confined  to  the  House  of  Lords.  In  182 1  Plunket 
introduced  a  Relief  Bill  in  a  speech  which  contemporary 
judges  declare  to  have  been  of  surpassing  eloquence,  but  it 
met  with  the  usual  fate.  The  year  following  Canning 
brought  in  a  much  smaller  measure,  merely  proposing  that 
Catholic  peers  should  be  admitted  to  the  House  of  Lords. 
It  passed  the  Commons  by  a  slender  majority,  but  was 
thrown  out  by  much  larger  numbers  in  the  Upper  House. 
The  Catholic  Association  was  O'Connell's  reply  to  these 
repeated  failures.  Started  in  1823,  it  met  with  prodigious 
success  and  soon  became  a  formidable  power  ;  the  organisa- 
tion covered  the  whole  country.  There  was  a  branch  in 
every  parish.  All  classes  joined  it.  To  raise  the  sinews  of 
war,  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  poverty-stricken  peasants. 
One  penny  a  month  was  the  amount  of  contribution  suggested. 
It  was  collected  at  the  chapel  doors,  and  the  Catholic  rent 
soon  reached  an  average  of  500/.  a  week.  A  system  of 
representation  was  formed,  and  presently  there  sat  in  Dublin 
an  assembly  which  was  a  Parliament  in  all  but  the  name, 
and  seemed  prepared  to  take  over  the  government  of 
the  country.  On  going  over  as  Lord-Lieutenant  before  the 
Association  was  formed,  Lord  Wellesley  had  found  it  neces- 
sary to  ask  for  an  Insurrection  Act  and  the  suspension  of 


104  LORD    MELBOURNE 

Habeas  Corpus.  With  a  representative  assembly  of  the 
Irish  people  gathered  within  earshot  of  the  Castle,  he  soon 
had  to  ask  for  something  more. 

The  Government  decided  that  their  first  duty  was  to  put 
down  the  Association,  and  a  Suppression  Bill  was  introduced 
which  passed  as  a  matter  of  course  without  much  difficulty. 
As  soon  as  these  measures  were  disposed  of,  the  friends  of 
Catholic  Emancipation  once  more  brought  in  a  Relief  Bill. 
It  passed  the  Commons,  but,  according  to  established  pre- 
cedent, was  thrown  out  in  the  Lords.  Two  other  measures 
were  then  proposed — one  to  abolish  the  forty-shilling  fran- 
chise in  Ireland,  the  other  to  make  a  provision  for  the 
Catholic  clergy.  They  were  called  the  wings,  with  some 
allusion  to  aerial  flotation.  Borne  up  by  two  such  pinions, 
perhaps  the  Emancipation  Bill  might  soar  above  the  obstacles 
which  fear  and  bigotry  had  placed  in  its  path.  The  Clergy 
Bill  proposed  that  stipends  should  be  paid  to  them  by  the 
State,  at  the  rate  of  1,000/.  a  year  for  the  bishops,  200/.  for 
the  parish  priests,  and  60/.  for  the  curates.  It  passed  the 
House  of  Commons  by  a  majority  of  forty-seven,  but  was 
attended  with  the  usual  fate  in  the  Lords.  The  present 
generation  may  perhaps  put  it  down  to  their  credit  that 
they  alone  stood  in  the  way  of  a  large  measure  of  concurrent 
endowment.  Before  any  of  these  Bills  reached  the  House 
of  Lords,  the  Duke  of  York,  on  presenting  a  petition  against 
them  from  the  Dean  and  Canons  of  Windsor,  wound  up  his 
speech  with  this  emphatic  declaration  :  '  My  own  opinions, 
my  lords,  are  well  known.  They  have  been  carefully  formed, 
and  I  cannot  change  them.  I  shall  continue  to  act  con- 
formably to  them,  to  whatever  obloquy  I  may  be  exposed, 
in  whatever  circumstances  and  in  whatever  situation  I  may 
be  placed,  so  help  me  God.'     As  the  heir-presumptive  to 


A   FOLLOWER   OF   MR.    CANNING  105 

the  Crown,  there  was  no  difficulty  in  interpreting  the  allusion. 
Intolerance  was  to  hold  perpetual  possession  of  the  throne, 
and  those  who  wished  to  enjoy  its  favours  knew  what  course 
to  take.  This  Anti-Catholic  manifesto  from  a  prince  of  the 
blood  drew  warm  commendations  from  Lord  Eldon,  who, 
however,  could  not  help  expressing  his  regret  that  the  Duke 
spent  so  much  of  his  time  with  blacklegs. 

Throughout  these  discussions  Lamb  favoured  a  'judicious 
mixture '  of  coercion  and  concession.  He  was  heartily  on 
the  side  of  the  Catholic  claims.  There  was  not  a  particle  of 
intolerance  in  his  nature,  and,  though  he  probably  had  no 
theory  as  to  the  rights  of  conscience,  he  could  well  under- 
stand that  in  matters  of  religion  every  man  should  be  allowed 
to  go  his  own  way.  This  was  not  merely  because  of  his 
easy  disposition.  On  some  questions  his  disposition  was 
not  at  all  easy.  He  had  reasoned  himself  into  certain  views, 
and  he  adhered  to  them  at  some  sacrifice  of  friend- 
ship. But  he  was  of  fair  and  generous  sentiments,  full  of 
kindliness,  and  averse  to  anything  that  savoured  of  oppres- 
sion. Yet  Liberalism  had  no  great  hold  upon  him  on  the 
side  of  principle.  He  was  not  the  man  to  defend  the  pass 
with  a  few  faithful  comrades  by  his  side  when  the  enemy 
drew  near.  On  the  repressive  measures  which  the  Govern- 
ment considered  necessary  in  coping  with  the  Catholic 
crisis  in  Ireland  he  gave  them  his  steady  support.  He 
voted  for  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act.  He 
spoke  as  well  as  voted  in  favour  of  the  Bill  for  suppressing 
the  Catholic  Association.  Retorting  a  cheer  from  Lamb 
which  he  thought  derisive,  Brougham  in  the  course  of  a 
speech  against  the  Bill  assailed  him  with  fierce  invective  as 
an  apostate  from  his  former  professions.  This  drew  forth  a 
reply  from  Lamb  in  which  he  sought  to  explain  and  defend 


106  LORD   MELBOURNE 

his  views.  He  thought  the  Association  dangerous  because, 
under  pretence  of  seeking  redress  for  particular  grievances, 
it  proceeded  to  discuss  the  whole  political  affairs  of  the 
empire.  He  had  a  further  objection.  '  When  it  was  con- 
sidered that  the  Catholic  clergy  claimed  the  power  of  absolu- 
tion, the  power  of  totally  forgiving  sins,  then  he  maintained 
that  their  operations  ought  to  be  looked  to  with  great  cau- 
tion, and  only  to  be  approved  when  directed  to  purposes 
purely  spiritual.'  In  the  debate  on  the  second  reading 
Lamb  ventured  to  enter  the  lists  against  Sir  James  Mackin- 
tosh, who  had  suggested  an  excuse  for  certain  violent 
language  imputed  to  O'Connell  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
'the  rhetoric  of  just  impatience,  not  the  logic  of  dangerous 
conspiracy.'  Lamb  remarked  that  O'Connell  was  no  inex- 
perienced orator  who  might  be  led  by  the  warmth  of  his 
feelings  to  say  more  than  he  meant.  He  also  ridiculed  the 
simile  which  honourable  gentlemen  had  invented  for  Catholic 
Associations,  calling  them  safety  valves  ;  they  were  rather 
'  furnaces  for  raising  the  public  feeling  into  fury.'  By  the 
line  he  took  Lamb  placed  himself  in  opposition  to  the  great 
body  of  the  Liberal  party.  He  voted  for  the  abolition  of 
the  forty-shilling  freeholders  in  Ireland  and  for  the  con- 
current endowment  proposals,  but  this  only  involved  him  in 
further  complications. 

Lamb  had  taken  his  own  course  since  he  re-entered 
Parliament,  and  a  day  of  reckoning  was  at  hand.  He  had 
earned  the  reputation  of  a  renegade,  and  there  were  rumours 
that  many  of  his  constituents  had  turned  against  him.  He 
was  not  assisted  by  the  politics  of  his  brother  George,  who 
had  been  returned  for  Westminster  in  1818  in  opposition  to 
Hobhouse,  whom  he  distanced  by  a  large  majority.  The 
vacancy  was  caused  by  the  lamented  death  of  Sir  Samuel 


A   FOLLOWER   OF   MR.   CANNING  107 

Romilly,  and  George  Lamb  presented  himself  to  the  electors 
as  one  who  held  the  same  opinions  as  their  late  representa- 
tive. To  conciliate  his  Radical  opponents,  who  enjoyed  the 
patronage  of  Jeremy  Bentham  and  had  among  their  leaders 
a  man  of  more  than  local  notability,  Mr.  Francis  Place, 
clothier,  of  Charing  Cross,  he  made  rather  large  professions  ; 
but  in  these  he  was  far  outbid  by  Hobhouse  and  by  Major 
Cartwright,  who  was  also  a  candidate.  The  great  Whig 
houses  turned  out  for  him,  and  there  was  a  fierce  fight,  in 
which  he  came  off  winner,  one  half  of  his  supporters  being 
among  those  who  had  plumped  for  the  ministerial  candidate 
at  the  general  election  a  few  months  before.  Under  these 
circumstances  it  is  not  strange  that  George  Lamb  should 
have  been  regarded  as  a  ministerialist,  and  his  Parliamentary 
conduct  was  held  to  confirm  this  view.  William  Lamb 
organised  his  brother's  canvass,  and  did  all  he  could  to  secure 
his  return.  He  did  the  same  for  him  at  the  next  election, 
when  there  was  a  still  fiercer  fight.  This  contest  reversed 
the  previous  decision  as  regards  George  Lamb.  He  was 
at  the  bottom  of  the  poll,  and  Sir  Francis  Burdett  and 
Hobhouse  were  triumphantly  returned,  the  latter  having  in 
the  meantime  been  sent  to  Newgate  by  the  House  of 
Commons  for  a  breach  of  privilege,  and  thus  acquired 
additional  popularity.  It  was  natural  that  Lamb  and  his 
brother  should  be  classed  together,  and  be  regarded  with 
suspicion  as  politicians  who  were  sailing  under  false  colours, 
and  while  still  calling  themselves  Liberals  were  ready  on  all 
occasions  to  play  into  the  hands  of  the  Government. 

At  this  time  Lamb's  domestic  circumstances  were 
peculiarly  depressing.  He  was  separated  from  his  wife. 
His  fondest  hopes  were  mocked  by  his  son's  condition.  To 
add  to  his  private  griefs  he  had  suffered  an  irreparable  loss 


108  LORD    MELBOURNE 

in  his  mother's  death.  The  great  lady,  who  for  so  many 
years  presided  over  the  grand  doings  at  Melbourne  House 
and  played  a  brilliant  part  in  the  world  of  fashion,  had 
passed  away.  Many  tributes  of  warm  admiration  are  on 
record  from  those  who  knew  her.  Social  ambition  was  the 
inspiring  motive  of  her  career,  and  she  won  some  of  the 
chief  prizes  at  which  she  aimed.  Perhaps  there  were 
illusions  which  she  outlived,  but  this  is  only  a  part  of  the 
common  lot.  If  in  the  course  of  her  experience  she  was 
led  to  discover  that  the  best  of  life's  bargains  are  not  always 
those  which  are  made  at  Vanity  Fair,  she  had  some  solid 
gain  to  show  at  the  end,  though  unhappily  too  late  for  re- 
investment. His  letters  show  the  intimate  confidence  and 
close  companionship  which  subsisted  between  her  and  her 
favourite  son.  Amid  the  divergent  tastes  and  interests  of  a 
not  ideally  assorted  household,  they  always  went  together. 
To  him  she  was  always  a  steady  friend ;  not  perhaps  in  his 
earlier  years  the  faithful  monitor  he  needed,  nor  his  wisest 
guide,  but  then  and  ever  of  unfailing  devotedness  to  what 
she  conceived  to  be  his  welfare.  With  the  loss  of  her  he 
had  almost  nothing  left. 

Nor  was  he  at  this  period  altogether  free  from  cares  of 
another  kind.  The  million  with  which  his  father  began  life 
had  been  dwindling  away.  There  is  no  difficulty  in 
imagining  how  the  money  went.  The  social  influence  to 
which  Lady  Melbourne  aspired  involved  a  large  expenditure. 
The  new  nobility,'  says  Mr.  Torrens, '  thought  it  incumbent 
upon  them  to  spend  more  money  than  those  whose  patents 
were  of  older  date.  Wealth  being  their  only  title  to  distinc- 
tion, they  had  to  show  it  in  order  to  make  their  pretensions 
good.'  Mr.  Torrens  mentions  one  fact  which  reveals  much. 
Lord  Melbourne  had  for  some  time  been  desirous  of  selling 


A   FOLLOWER   OF   MR.    CANNING  1 09 

a  pension  of  1,200/.  a  year  which  his  father  had  bought  from 
Lady  Gower.  '  It  was  the  moiety  of  a  grant  in  perpetuity, 
charged  on  the  revenues  of  the  Duchy  of  Cornwall,  and,  in 
default,  on  that  of  the  Excise,  by  Charles  II.,  in  favour  of 
the  first  Earl  of  Bath,  son  of  Sir  Bevil  Grenville,  who  fell 
at  Lansdowne  fight  in  defence  of  the  royal  cause.'  Sir 
Matthew  Lamb  had  given  36,000/.  for  it.  In  1826,  consols 
standing  at  about  75,  the  Treasury  offered  to  buy  it  back  at 
five-and-twenty  years'  purchase.  Lord  Melbourne  closed 
with  the  offer.  The  pension  had  been  mortgaged  to  Lord 
Mansfield  for  26,000/.,  and  when  this  was  paid  off,  a  balance 
of  only  6,000/.  remained.  Lamb  had  received  at  first  but  a 
slender  allowance  from  his  father.  It  had  probably  been 
increased,  but  his  expenses  were  considerable,  owing  partly 
to  the  lavishness  of  his  wife.  Hence  he  was  sometimes 
without  a  balance  at  his  bankers',  besides  being  seriously  in 
debt.  '  It  is  a  curious  illustration  of  his  condition,'  says 
Mr.  Torrens,  '  that  on  one  occasion  Francis  Place  [the 
clothier  of  Charing  Cross],  who  had  given  him  credit  for 
some  years,  and  who  found  it  impossible  to  get  a  settlement 
of  his  account,  had  served  him  with  a  writ,  instructing  his 
solicitor  to  see  what  that  would  do,  but,  d— n  it,  nothing 
further.'  It  may  have  been  just  after  he  was  served  with 
this  writ  that  he  made  the  following  entry  in  his  diary  :  'If 
your  expenditure  either  amounts  to  or  somewhat  exceeds 
your  income,  it  appears  to  me  to  be  a  great  convenience  not 
to  purchase  the  whole  of  any  one  material  article  at  one 
shop.  It  will  be  found  more  convenient  to  have  25/.  each  to 
pay  to  four  tradesmen  than  100/.  to  one.  A  creditor  is  less 
anxious  over  a  smaller  debt.  If  it  is  required,  two  out  of 
the  four  may  probably  be  induced  to  wait  somewhat  longer, 
when  the  one  has  probably  an  immediate  necessity  for  so 


IIO  LORD   MELBOURNE 

large  a  sum  of  money.  In  short,  a  man  to  whom  you  owe 
a  great  deal  which  it  is  inconvenient  for  you  to  pay  is  your 
master,  and  of  a  man  to  whom  you  owe  a  few  pounds 
which  you  can  throw  upon  his  counter  at  any  time  you  are 
the  master,  and  this  latter  appears  to  me  much  the  most 
natural  order  of  things.'  In  Lamb's  transactions  with  the 
tailor  of  Charing  Cross,  this  natural  order  seems  to  have 
been  reversed. 

In  this  impecunious  condition  he  had  to  face  the  prospect 
of  a   contest  for  his  Hertfordshire  seat,  with  the  further 
prospect  of  being  beaten  if  he  went  to  the  poll.     There  was 
just   one  possible  way  of  escape,  easy,  thrifty,  and  in  all 
respects  convenient,    if  the  arrangement  which  seemed  to 
offer  it  could  be  carried  out.     While  the  county  was  more 
than    doubtful,    the   county   town    might   be   regarded   as 
perfectly  safe.     Hertford  returned  two  members,  one  sup- 
posed  to   represent   the    Hatfield,  the   other  the  Cowper 
interest.     Mr.  Calvert,  who  represented  the  Cowper  interest, 
was  popular  in  the  county,  his  votes  having  given  general 
satisfaction  to  the  Liberal  freeholders,  who  were  disgusted 
with  the  conduct  of  Lamb.     What  could  be  easier  than  for 
them  to   change  places?     This  accordingly  was   the  plan 
quietly  agreed  upon.     Calvert  was  to  offer  himself  for  the 
county,  and  Lamb  to  go  in  for  the  borough.     But  the  secret 
oozed  out,  and  the  Hertford  electors  were  indignant ;  the 
Liberals  of  the  borough  were  no  more  willing  to  have  a 
recreant  politician  thrust  upon  them  than  the  Liberals  of 
the  county,  and  they  forthwith  chose  a  candidate  for  them- 
selves in  the  person  of  Mr.  Thomas  Slingsby  Duncombe, 
familiarly  known   in  after  years  as  Tom  Duncombe,  the 
member  for  Finsbury.     Mr.   Duncombe  accordingly  took 
the  field.     The  contest  began  a  year  before  the  election 


A  FOLLOWER  OF   MR.   CANNING  III 

took  place,  the  dissolution  which  was  expected  in  1825 
having  been  deferred  till  1826.  The  new  candidate,  with 
his  splendid  professions  of  Radicalism,  his  fine  dashing 
manners,  and  plenty  of  money  for  those  whose  votes  stood 
in  need  of  some  gentle  suasion,  took  the  electors  by  storm, 
and  Lamb,  who  seems  to  have  regarded  as  an  indignity  the 
opposition  sprung  upon  him,  withdrew  from  the  contest, 
Mr.  Henry  Bulwer,  the  late  Lord  Dalling,  being  prevailed 
upon  to  take  his  place.  Duncombe,  though  he  managed  to 
have  money  to  spend  on  bribery,  was  himself  in  debt,  and 
had  to  conceal  himself  during  the  poll  from  the  sheriff's  men 
who  were  sent  to  find  him.  When  the  poll  was  over,  his 
perils  were  at  an  end.  He  came  in  triumphantly,  and  stood 
protected  by  the  privilege  of  Parliament.  As  for  Lamb, 
his  fate  was  deplorable.  Forced  to  abandon  the  county, 
and  driven  ignominiously  from  the  town,  he  tasted  the  full 
bitterness  of  retribution  for  his  political  sins,  and  fled  for 
refuge  to  the  solitudes  of  Derbyshire. 


112  LORD    MELBOURNE 


CHAPTER   VII 

CHIEF   SECRETARY    FOR    IRELAND 

Sudden  turn  of  the  political  kaleidoscope — Canning  in  power — The 
Whig  party  rent  asunder — Lamb  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  and 
a  seat  found  for  im  —  Leaves  for  Ireland — Death  of  Canning — 
Lamb's  Irish  achievements  and  experiences — Retains  office  under 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  pays  clearly  for  it— The  Whigs  cleared 
out — Huskisson's  resignation  and  its  consequences  — Lamb  secedes 
with  the  rest  of  the  Canningites — Death  of  Viscount  Melbourne. 

While  Lamb  was  endeavouring  to  find  consolation  in  books 
and  in  social  pleasures  for  his  exile  from  the  House  of 
Commons,  a  great  change  took  place  in  the  state  of  public 
affairs.  On  January  27,  1827,  the  Duke  of  York  died.  It 
was  an  event  of  some  importance,  for  though  personally  in- 
significant, he  was  heir-presumptive  to  the  Crown,  and  the 
coincidence  of  his  opinions  on  the  Catholic  question  with 
those  of  a  decaying  but  still  powerful  party,  rendered  him 
something  more  than  a  political  cipher.  Henceforth  the 
friends  of  religious  freedom  would  have  only  one  royal 
obstructive  to  deal  with  instead  of  two.  This  event  was 
soon  followed  by  another  of  much  greater  importance.  On 
February  17,  Lord  Liverpool  was  disabled  by  a  paralytic 
seizure,  and  the  certainty  of  his  speedy  resignation  raised 
the  question  of  the  successorship.  Personal  rivalries  gave  a 
false  aspect  to  the  issue.  It  seemed  to  be  one  between 
men,  but  it  was  really  one  between  policies.     There  was  no 


CHIEF   SECRETARY   FOR   IRELAND  113 

immediate  prospect  of  any  great  legislative  change,  but  two 
divergent  tendencies  were  struggling  for  ascendency  in  the 
Government,  and  the  point  to  be  settled  was  which  of  them 
should  prevail. 

On  one  side  stood  the  champions  of  stern  unyielding 
Toryism,  of  which  Eldon  was  the  purest  type.  Next  to  him 
in  the  tenacity  of  his  opinions  came  Wellington,  whose 
political  sentiments  were  hardened  and  made  combative 
rather  by  the  instincts  of  his  profession  than  by  any  force 
of  intellectual  conviction.  To  them  Peel  lent  the  aid  of 
practical  statesmanship.  His  mind  was  far  more  open  than 
theirs  to  the  influences  of  the  new  era  upon  which  the  world 
had  entered.  It  was  more  plastic,  more  accommodating,  more 
opportunist,  and  had  in  it  some  affinity  with  Canning's  ;  but 
political  possibilities  and  chances  had  to  be  considered,  and 
the  combination  most  favourable  to  those  personal  aims 
of  which  no  politician  can  entirely  divest  himself,  was  that 
which  made  him  the  spokesman  of  the  Tories.  Outside 
that  combination,  with  Canning  in  the  field  before  him,  he 
could  only  expect  to  play  a  second  part ;  remaining  where 
he  was,  he  might  hope  soon  to  play  the  first.  Over  against 
these  Tories  of  pure  blood  stood  Canning  and  Huskisson, 
Tories  as  well  as  their  colleagues,  but  with  a  difference. 
Some  tincture  of  Liberalism  had  been  infused  into  their 
veins.  They  were  opposed  to  Parliamentary  reform,  but 
they  were  in  favour  of  Catholic  emancipation,  in  continental 
politics  their  sympathies  were  on  the  side  of  freedom,  and 
they  were  for  relaxing  the  fetters  on  trade.  For  fifteen  years 
these  opposing  tendencies  had  been  gathering  strength,  but 
the  influence  of  Lord  Liverpool  had  been  strong  enough  to 
enforce  a  compromise.  Now  that  he  was  gone,  the  armistice 
came  to  an  end.     One  of  the  two  parties  must  prevail  over 

1 


114  LORD   MELBOURNE 

the  other,  and  which  it  should  be  depended,  for  the  present 
at  least,  upon  the  King's  choice  of  a  premier. 

The  royal  will  settled  the  question  in  favour  of  Canning. 
By  what  motives  the  decision  was  swayed,  whether  any 
inducements  were  offered  or  any  pledges  exacted,  has  been 
the  subject  of  much  controversy  ;  but  the  facts  as  we  know 
them  supply  a  sufficient  explanation.  Canning  had  much 
the  advantage  of  his  rivals  in  point  of  address.  His  melli- 
fluous tongue  could  charm  in  private  as  well  as  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  He  was  charged  with  being  obse- 
quious to  the  King,  and  at  this  supreme  moment,  when  a 
long  cherished  ambition  had  a  promise  of  being  fulfilled, 
he  was  not  likely  to  err  on  the  side  of  intractability.  It  is 
improbable,  notwithstanding  the  King's  assertion  to  the 
contrary,  that  pledges  as  to  future  policy  were  exacted  or 
given  ;  but  the  King  was  fully  persuaded  that  the  new  Pre- 
mier would  not  trouble  him  with  the  question  of  Catholic 
Emancipation.  Wellington  had  not  Canning's  attractive 
ways.  He  took  his  military  manners  with  him  into  the 
royal  closet,  and  was  proud  of  being  able  on  critical  occa- 
sions to  bring  the  King  to  terms.  The  rumour  at  the  time 
was  that  Wellington  and  Peel  had  given  some  offence  to 
the  King  touching  his  prerogative.  They  were  by  far  the 
stronger  party  in  the  Cabinet,  and  they  probably  pressed 
their  claims  with  too  little  deference.  As  between  the  rival 
claimants,  too  much  need  not  be  made  of  their  political 
differences.  Canning's  case  was  clear.  The  Catholic  ques- 
tion apart,  there  was  no  one  who  could  fairly  be  put  in 
competition  with  him.  He  knew  his  pretensions  were  good, 
and  he  stood  by  them.  If  he  could  not  be  first  he  was 
determined  not  to  be  second,  and  this  resolution  made  his 
opponents  equally  resolute.     As  between  them  it  was  a  per- 


CHIEF  SECRETARY  FOR  IRELAND      1 1  5 

sonal  question,  and  when  Canning  carried  it  with  the  King 
they  resolved  that  he  should  have  the  stage  all  to  himself. 

Accordingly,  he  was  no  sooner  appointed  than  Welling- 
ton, Peel,  Westmoreland,  Bathurst,  Melville,  and  Bexley  all 
resigned,  and  Canning  had  to  turn  to  the  Whigs  for  help. 
From  whatever  point  of  view  the  question  might  be  re- 
garded, it  was  not  an  easy  one  for  them.  On  the  one  hand 
there  was  the  chance  of  office,  always  of  some  weight  with 
politicians  who  have  long  been  sitting  in  the  shade.  There 
was  the  further  consideration  that  if  they  declined  the  over- 
tures now  made  to  them  Canning  would  be  compelled  to 
abandon  his  task,  and  the  party  of  reaction  would  be 
installed  in  power.  How  could  they  best  promote  their 
principles — by  standing  aloof,  or  by  joining  the  Cabinet  and 
helping  to  mould  its  policy  ?  On  the  other  hand  there  was 
the  certainty  that  Catholic  Emancipation,  to  which  they 
were  pledged  up  to  the  hilt,  would  have  to  remain  in  abey- 
ance with  their  consent,  and  that  they  must  also  consent 
for  the  present  not  to  bring  forward  any  measure  of  Parlia- 
mentary reform.  The  result  was  a  rent  in  the  party.  The 
great  Whig  houses  took  opposite  sides.  Lord  Lansdowne 
joined  the  Government,  while  Earl  Grey  rejected  the  over- 
tures with  disdain,  and  assailed  Canning  himself  with  bitter 
animosity.  The  same  families  were  divided.  Lord  Spencer 
went  to  the  House  of  Lords  expressly  to  avow  his  adhesion 
to  the  Government,  while  Lord  Althorp  in  the  Commons 
took  the  same  side  as  Earl  Grey.  In  the  Russell  family 
the  attitude  of  the  elder  and  the  younger  members  was  just 
the  reverse.  The  Duke  of  Bedford  angrily  denounced  the 
coalition,  while  his  two  sons,  Lord  Tavistock  and  Lord 
John  Russell,  gave  it  their  warm  support.  Lord  John  him- 
self, says  his  biographer,  declared  that  he  was  'too  happy' 

I  2 


Il6  LORD   MELBOURNE 

to  sec  Mr.  Canning  in  office  free  from  the  restrictions  or 
Tory  support  'to  wish  to  moot  against  him  the  necessity 
of  Parliamentary  reform.'  Brougham,  Tierney,  Duncannon, 
and  Sir  Francis  Burdett  had  been  the  first  to  take  action 
with  their  party  on  the  same  side,  and  it  was  upon  them 
that  the  sterner  or  the  more  aristocratic  Whigs  who  disdained 
all  compromise,  and  perhaps  disdained  'adventurers'  still 
more,  threw  the  responsibility  for  the  disruption  which 
ensued. 

In  the  distribution  of  offices  William  Lamb  was  not  for- 
gotten.    He   was  favourably  known  to   Canning,  and  he 
stood  in  a  more  or  less  intimate  connection  with  a  number 
of  influential  people  whom  it  was  the  minister's  interest  to 
conciliate.     He  had,  moreover,  a  warm  friend  in  Mr.  Hus- 
kisson,  who  was  one  of  Canning's  most  trusted  colleagues. 
Things  had  greatly  changed  with  Huskisson  since  the  time 
when  his  marriage  brought  him  within  the  fashionable  circle 
of  Melbourne  House,  and  Lamb  used  to  gently  chaff  him 
at  dinner  in  the  benevolent  hope  of  assisting  him  to  get  rid 
of  his  awkward  manners.     His  untiring  industry,  his  mastery 
of  finance,  his  wide  knowledge  of  commercial  subjects,  and 
his  enlightened  policy  in  legislation  affecting  them,  had  re- 
commended him  to  Canning  as  a  valuable  ally.     It  was  at 
Canning's  instance  that  a  place  was  found  for  him  in  Lord 
Liverpool's   administration    as   President   of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  and  it  was  at  Canning's  further  instance  that  he  was 
taken  into  the  Cabinet  a  little  later.     Of  the  men  who  com- 
posed the   Liverpool   and  Canning  administrations,  Hus- 
kisson is  the  only  one,  next  to  the  chiefs  themselves,  whom 
the  present  generation  cares  to  remember.     He  was  the 
originator  of  the  reciprocity  system,  which  was  a  vast  im- 
provement on  our  former  practice,  while  it  had  the  further 


CHIEF  SECRETARY  FOR  IRELAND      117 

merit,  by  the  experience  we  were  enabled  to  gather  of  its 
insufficiency,  of  preparing  the  way  for  free  trade.    Huskisson 
was  the  most  useful  man  on  the  Treasury  bench,  and  next 
in  influence  to  Canning.     Of  course  he  remembered  Lamb, 
whose  hopes  and  hitherto  foiled  ambition  and  ardent  dis- 
cipleship  to  Canning  he  must  have  known.     While  Lord 
Liverpool  was  in  power  he  had  been  enabled  to  offer  him  a 
subordinate  post  in  the  administration  ;  but  though  Lamb 
was  gratified  by  the  offer,  and  knew  how  to  speak  of  it 
to  his  friends,  he  had  hardly  the  courage  to  go  over  to  the 
Government  benches  by  himself.      Things  were  different 
now.     The   Whig   party  was  split   asunder,    and  one   half 
of  them   were   trooping  to  the   ministerial   camp.     When 
Brougham,  who  had  taunted  Lamb  with  apostasy,  was  the  first 
to  challenge  the  support  of  his  party  for  the  new  Premier, 
there  was  no  longer  any  reason  for  hesitation.     But  Lamb 
did  not  go  over  as  a  Whig,  though  he  sheltered  himself 
under  Whig  example.     He  had  long  been  a  political  Nico- 
demus.     All  he  did  now  for  the  first  time  was  to  act  on  his 
opinions  by  taking  office. 

A  seat  had  to  be  found  for  Lamb,  and  on  the  spur  of 
the  moment  it  was  easily  arranged.  Canning  had  vacated 
his  seat  for  Newport  on  accepting  office  as  premier,  but  the 
borough  was  largely  under  Tory  influences,  and  he  did  not 
venture  to  go  back  for  re-election.  Lamb,  who  would  run 
less  risk,  was  therefore  nominated  in  his  place,  and  returned 
by  a  small  majority.  There  was  some  talk  of  a  petition, 
but,  before  it  could  be  presented,  the  seat  was  again  vacated 
by  his  own  acceptance  of  office,  and  not  caring  to  face  the 
formidable  opposition  with  which  he  was  threatened,  he 
took  refuge  in  the  borough  of  Bletchingley,  where  one  of  the 
sitting  members  retired  to  make  room  for  him.     When  pre- 


Il8  LORD   MELBOURNE 

sented  to  kiss  hands  on  his  appointment,  the  King  was 
particularly  gracious.  On  his  name  being  first  mentioned 
for  office,  the  King  had  said  to  Canning,  '  William  Lamb, 
William  Lamb — put  him  anywhere  you  like.'  They  were 
old  acquaintances,  there  could  not  but  be  some  surviving 
recollections  of  evening  revels  at  Melbourne  House,  and 
the  King  was  good-natured  enough  to  bestow  warm  felici- 
tations on  the  son  of  one  who  for  more  than  thirty  years 
had  held  a  place  in  his  household.  The  post  assigned  to 
Lamb  was  that  of  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland.  We  have 
learned  to  associate  a  degree  of  importance  with  that  office 
which  it  did  not  then  possess.  The  Lord  Lieutenant  was 
in  communication  with  the  Prime  Minister  on  matters  of 
general  policy,  and  the  Chief  Secretary,  to  whom  the  manage- 
ment of  details  was  entrusted,  was  really  a  subordinate  of 
the  Home  Office.  The  Under-Secretary  for  the  Home 
Department  was  practically  the  administrator  of  Irish  affairs, 
and  it  was  some  relief  to  Lamb,  who  knew  but  little  about 
Ireland,  that  this  office  was  bestowed  upon  Mr.  Spring 
Rice.  He,  at  any  rate,  knew  a  great  deal  more.  Lamb  re- 
ceived his  appointment  in  May,  but  he  was  in  no  hurry  to 
depart,  and  did  not  leave  for  Dublin  till  July  4.  His  wife 
of  course  was  left  at  Brocket,  but  he  took  his  son  with  him, 
trusting  that  the  change  might  help  to  rouse  his  slumbering 
faculties. 

But  events  were  travelling  fast.  Lamb  had  been  barely 
a  month  in  Dublin,  when  the  news  reached  him  of  Canning's 
death.  The  fatal  issue  was  hardly  unexpected,  though  it 
was  a  shock  to  all  that  it  should  come  so  soon.  Nothing 
could  be  more  dramatic  or  more  sad.  Premier  on  April  10, 
dead  on  August  8  ;  the  highest  object  of  his  ambition  no 
sooner  grasped  than  lost,     His  health  had  long  been  fail- 


CHIEF  SECRETARY  FOR  IRELAND     1 19 

ing,  and  he  never  quite  recovered  from  a  cold  he  caught  at 
the  funeral  of  the  Duke  of  York,  when  he  and  the  other 
ministers,  near  midnight,  and  in  the  depth  of  winter,  were  kept 
standing  for  two  hours  on  the  cold  flagstones  of  St.  George's 
Chapel.  He  told  Lord  Eldon  to  stand  on  his  cocked  hat, 
but  he  took  no  such  care  of  himself.  In  February  he  was 
so  ill  that  it  seemed  doubtful  whether  he  would  recover. 
His  energies  were  roused  by  the  struggle  for  the  premier- 
ship, and  the  fierce  debates  which  followed  may  almost  be 
said  to  have  kept  him  alive,  but  the  strain  only  made  a 
speedy  collapse  more  certain.  When  Parliament  broke  up 
on  July  2,  he  went  to  Chiswick  on  the  invitation  of  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire,  and  there,  a  month  later,  he  breathed 
his  last  in  the  same  room  where  Fox  expired. 

The  transfer  of  the  premiership  to  Lord  Goderich  did 
not  affect  Lamb's  position.  It  was  understood  that  the 
policy  of  the  Government  would  remain  unaltered.  The 
bark  had  been  newly  rigged  and  manned,  and  it  was  to 
proceed  on  its  voyage,  although  it  had  lost  its  pilot  and 
the  steam-power  had  been  cut  off.  There  was  a  partial 
reconstruction  of  the  ministry.  Lord  Lansdowne  suc- 
ceeded Mr.  Sturges  Bourne  at  the  Home  Office,  and  Mr. 
Huskisson  became  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies.  He 
ought  to  have  been  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and  the 
office  is  said  to  have  been  pressed  upon  him,  but  he  had 
probably  good  reasons  for  declining.  An  economist  and 
reformer  in  command  at  the  Treasury  would  hardly  have 
been  acceptable  to  the  King,  who  asserted  his  right  to 
choose  his  own  ministers.  These  changes  cannot  but  have 
been  agreeable  to  Lamb.  They  helped  at  any  rate  to  make 
him  feel  more  at  home  among  his  new  friends. 

We  must  now  follow  him  to  Dublin  and  see  how  he 


120  LORD   MELBOURNE 

acquitted  himself  there.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  he  did 
not  set  the  Liffey  on  fire.  He  soon  found  out  how  little 
any  man  could  do,  though  equipped  with  an  official  title 
and  animated  with  the  best  intentions.  The  administrative 
system  over  which  he  was  supposed  to  have  some  rights  of 
direction  and  control  turned  out  on  a  closer  inspection  to 
have  a  separate  existence  of  its  own,  and  to  be  delightfully 
independent  of  the  gentlemen  who  were  sent  over  from 
England  to  take  charge  of  its  operations.  The  permanent 
officials  were  the  real  rulers  of  the  country.  They  knew 
their  business,  they  were  entrenched  behind  a  mass  of 
venerable  traditions,  which  had  the  force  of  unwritten  laws, 
and  which  they  held  that  nobody  in  his  senses  would  dream 
of  violating.  They  were  armed  with  precedents  at  all 
points.  One  thing  could  not  be  done  because  it  had  never 
been  done  before.  Something  else  could  not  be  done  be- 
cause it  depended  upon  something  else  which  had  a  pre- 
scriptive right  to  be  let  alone.  It  seemed  practically  im- 
possible to  change  anything  without  changing  everything. 
If  a  single  brick  were  meddled  with,  the  whole  fabric  might 
be  expected  to  tumble  in  ruins.  Hence,  as  the  edifice 
existed  by  a  sacred  tenure,  no  innovation  of  any  kind  could 
be  permitted.  Lamb  used  his  eyes  and  ears  without  stint. 
He  was  ready  to  listen  to  any  one  who  had  a  story  to  tell. 
He  pushed  his  inquiries  into  all  corners  with  the  curiosity 
of  a  novice  and  the  zeal  of  a  reformer,  and  when  he  had 
found  an  undoubted  grievance  he  would  ask,  perhaps  with 
some  mild  expletive  which  gave  relief  to  his  indignation, 
why  on  earth  it  could  not  be  redressed.  He  was  of  course 
treated  with  official  deference,  but  the  experts  would  shake 
their  heads  and  soon  envelope  the  question  with  a  cloud  of 
difficulties  not  one  of  which,  utter  ignoramus  as  he  was  in 


CHIEF   SECRETARY   FOR    IRELAND  121 

the  conditions  of  Irish  life  and  in  the  details  of  administra- 
tion, did  he  see  his  way  to  solve.  They  were  patient  with 
him  to  his  face,  but  they  made  amends  for  their  silence  as 
soon  as  his  back  was  turned.  He  had  perhaps  some  reason 
for  fancying  them,  when  he  was  out  of  sight  and  hearing, 
exchanging  satirical  observations  and  looks  of  derision  at 
his  expense,  wondering  at  the  vanity  of  these  imported  wise- 
acres, who  imagined  that,  because  they  had  got  a  post  and 
a  salary  on  the  Irish  establishment,  it  was  their  business  to 
upset  everything.  A  few  experiences  of  this  kind  taught 
Lamb  the  length  of  his  tether,  and  he  soon  resigned  him- 
self to  make  a  virtue  of  necessity  at  the  easy  cost  of  doing 
nothing. 

He  had  other  difficulties  to  encounter.  The  duties  of 
his  office  were  ill-defined.  He  was  responsible,  but  he  did 
not  exactly  know  to  whom,  and  he  was  wholly  without  power 
He  could  not  act  except  with  the  approval  and  under  the 
virtual  direction  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant.  But  the  Marquis 
of  Wellesley  did  not  care  to  exert  himself  about  anything. 
He  had  been  six  years  in  office,  and  was  now  longing 
impatiently  for  the  moment  when  he  could  leave  it.  The 
hopes  with  which  he  entered  upon  his  Viceregal  mission  had 
been  cruelly  disappointed.  Trusting  to  be  able  to  win  the 
confidence  of  all  classes  by  kind  and  impartial  treatment,  he 
found  himself  compelled  soon  after  his  arrival  to  ask  for  an 
Insurrection  Act.  The  Catholic  Association  had  grown  up 
under  his  eyes.  He  obtained  an  Act  for  its  suppression, 
but  O'Connell  boasted  that  he  would  drive  a  coach-and-six 
through  its  provisions,  and  he  had  fulfilled  his  threat.  His 
Majesty's  representative  had  the  semblance  of  power,  but 
the  reality  lay  in  other  hands.  The  Marquis  had  not  the 
freshness  of  his  colleague,  and  did  not  share  in  his  appetite 


122  LORD   MELBOURNE 

for  work.  At  the  same  time  he  did  not  like  to  be  passed 
over.  Lamb  had  to  remember  that  he  was  a  subordinate, 
and  must  not  take  upon  himself  too  much.  When  letters 
were  sent  to  him  from  the  Home  Office  asking  for  his  opinion 
on  some  Irish  question,  he  knew  that  it  would  be  best  to 
return  them  in  order  that  the  request  might  be  addressed 
through  him  to  his  chief.  The  transitional  character  of  the 
Government  favoured  a  paralysis  of  administration  in  Ireland. 
It  could  not  last  long,  that  was  certain,  and  there  was  a 
natural  disposition  to  wait  to  see  what  the  next  would  be. 
Perhaps  something  might  happen  which  would  bring  the 
Catholic  claims  to  the  front,  and  extort  a  recognition  of 
them  from  the  King,  whose  obstinate  prejudices  were  the 
only  real  obstacle  to  emancipation.  In  that  case  the 
Marquis  would  be  well  content  to  reign  a  little  longer  at 
the  Castle.  For  the  present  he  resigned  himself  to  apathy 
and  indifference,  the  silent  and  helpless  brood  of  despair. 

It  was  considered  one  of  the  duties  of  the  Chief 
Secretary  to  prepare  the  Irish  measures  which  might  be 
needed  for  the  following  session,  and  a  letter  which  Lamb 
addressed  to  Lord  Lansdowne  on  this  subject  will  enable  us 
to  form  some  idea  of  his  powers  of  initiation,  and  of  the 
difficulties  he  met  with  in  any  attempt  to  improve  the  law. 
The  letter  is  in  reply  to  one  from  Lord  Lansdowne,  in 
which  nine  different  subjects  are  enumerated  as  requiring 
attention.  Lamb  is  no  doubt  thankful  for  the  suggestions, 
though  perhaps  half  ashamed  that  he  should  have  to  be 
indebted  for  them  to  an  official  at  Whitehall,  while  with  some 
of  them  he  is  extremely  puzzled.  In  his  reply  he  begins  by 
mentioning  four  measures  which  he  has  actually  thought  of 
himself,  and  three  of  which  are  ready  for  presentation.  But 
two   of    them,   a  Jury   Bill,    and   a   General   Paving   and 


CHIEF  SECRETARY  FOR  IRELAND     1 23 

Lighting  Bill,  had  been  brought  into  Parliament  during  the 
previous  session  and  left  over.  The  third,  a  Bill  for  the 
renewal  of  the  Insolvent  Act,  had  been  left  by  his  pre- 
decessor, Mr.  Goulburn,  in  a  complete  state  of  prepara- 
tion. The  fourth  was  a  Bill  for  the  Amendment  of  the 
Criminal  Law,  and  the  prevention  of  malicious  outrages, 
one  of  a  class  which  the  Castle  officials  were  sure  not  to 
overlook.  Having  so  far  vindicated  the  forethought  of  the 
Lord  Lieutenant  and  himself,  he  passes  in  review  the  nine 
other  topics  which  the  Home  Secretary  commends  to  his 
consideration.  He  admits  the  desirableness  of  introducing 
some  order  into  the  statutes  relating  to  public  works,  their 
present  state  being  so  confused  that  he  has  to  own  himself 
unable  to  understand  them  ;  there  should  at  least  be  some 
provision  for  the  methodical  execution  of  such  works,  and 
for  a  frequent  and  strict  audit  of  the  expenditure.  A  Bill 
for  amending  the  Civil  Bill  Process  is  under  consideration, 
so  also  is  a  Bill  for  reforming  the  abuses  reported  as  existing 
in  the  office  for  the  Registration  of  Deeds.  Tolls  and  customs 
are  a  large  and  delicate  question  upon  which  he  has  to  con- 
fess himself  uninformed,  but  attention  shall  be  paid  to  it. 
As  regards  Grand  Jury  presentments,  '  it  is  unnecessary  to 
expatiate  on  the  magnitude,  the  importance,  and  the  difficulty 
of  this  subject.'  Plans  of  reformation  may  be  suggested  by 
others,  but  it  would  only  be  deceiving  his  correspondent  at 
the  Home  Office  and  subjecting  himself  to  the  charge 
of  presumption  if  he  held  out  any  hope  of  being  himself 
prepared  to  bring  forward  any  general  measure  in  the  next 
Parliament.  The  state  of  the  magistracy  in  both  countries 
requires  serious  consideration,  and  will  soon  press  itself,  he  is 
convinced,  on  the  attention  of  the  Legislature,  but  not  at  pre- 
sent, it  would  seem,  upon  his  own.     The  Tithe  Composition 


124  LORD   MELBOURNE 

Act  of  1823  has  been  carried  into  effect  in  940  parishes 
out  of  2,600.  It  would  no  doubt  be  highly  beneficial  to 
establish  a  more  permanent  system,  but  the  existing  one  is 
working  pretty  well  and  had  better  perhaps  be  let  alone. 
There  are  no  doubt  abuses  connected  with  the  appointment 
of  sheriffs,  but  '  those  who  are  best  informed  on  the 
subject '  conceive  that  it  is  impossible  to  remedy  them  with- 
out running  the  risk  of  introducing  others  quite  as  bad. 
The  question  of  education  is  far  too  large  for  incidental 
discussion.  It  is  one  of  '  great  delicacy  and  difficulty.' 
Still,  it  has  received,  and  will  receive,  '  the  most  anxious  con- 
sideration on  the  part  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant.'  This  is  the 
legislative  budget  for  the  year  in  a  tentative  stage.  It  shows 
us  the  machine  in  motion.  We  see  the  official  brain  at 
work,  and  are  perhaps  surprised  at  the  tutorial  functions 
assumed  by  the  Home  Office.  In  reply  to  this  letter  Lord 
Lansdowne  assures  Lamb  that  while  he  feels  it  his  duty  to 
dwell  occasionally  on  points  connected  with  local  administra- 
tion in  Ireland,  he  feels  persuaded  that  they  have  not  been 
overlooked,  and  that  Lord  Wellesley  and  himself  are  best 
able  to  judge  of  the  difficulties  attending  any  efforts  to 
remedy  the  defects  of  the  present  system.  An  outside 
observer  might  perhaps  infer  that  in  Lord  Lansdowne's 
opinion  both  master  and  man  at  Dublin  wanted  keeping  up 
to  the  mark,  and  that  the  hints  conveyed  to  them  might 
almost  be  construed  as  a  reprimand. 

There  was  other  work  in  which  Lamb  was  more  in  his 
element.  He  liked  to  talk— and  few  men  could  talk  better. 
He  cared  nothing  for  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  official 
life,  and  the  restraints  of  etiquette  he  was  apt  to  resent  as  a 
bore.  There  was  that  in  him  which  is  sometimes  wanting 
in  persons  who  can  declaim  at  large  upon  the  rights  of  man, 


CHIEF   SECRETARY    FOR   IRELAND  125 

and  who  profess  to  be  democrats  of  the  purest  water,  a 
sense  of  equality  and  fellowship  with  all  around  him.  There 
is  some  risk  in  saying  that  he  was  a  gentleman,  the  word 
has  come  to  be  so  much  abused,  but  he  had  all  the 
attributes  of  thorough  manliness.  He  never  stood  upon 
his  dignity  ;  perhaps  he  would  have  been  unable  to  conceive 
the  necessity  of  such  a  severe  proceeding,  for  he  was  always 
at  the  bottom  of  his  heart  urbane  and  kind  and  good,  and 
all  that  unconscious  dignity  implies  was  wrought  into  his 
nature.  Bluff  manners,  and  the  bluff  speech  in  which  he 
sometimes  indulged,  sat  upon  him  as  a  foil,  illustrating  but 
never  long  concealing  his  amiable  qualities.  He  liked  to 
come  to  close  quarters  with  the  people  he  met,  so  as  to  get 
at  their  thoughts  and  let  them  get  at  as  much  of  his  as  he 
was  not  bound  to  conceal,  though  even  that  occasionally 
came  out.  A  fairer  minded  man,  or  one  more  utterly  free 
from  all  taint  of  bigotry  or  of  class  prejudices,  never  entered 
Dublin  Castle.  He  no  doubt  did  much  good  as  Chief 
Secretary  by  the  genial  spirit  he  breathed,  but  he  would 
probably  have  done  even  more  good  if  he  had  been  sent  on 
his  travels  through  Ireland,  with  the  simple  commission  to 
talk  to  everybody  he  met,  whether  peer  or  priest  or  peasant. 
It  is  certain  that  he  would  have  left  behind  him  wherever  he 
went  an  atmosphere  of  tolerance  and  goodwill. 

He  did  this  in  Dublin  as  far  as  a  liberal  interpretation 
of  his  official  duties  would  permit.  He  sought  out  oppor- 
tunities for  conversation  with  representatives  of  the  popular 
party.  Mr.  Torrens  relates  one  such  interview  which  he 
had  with  Shiel,  from  whom  he  learned  more  of  the  state  of 
the  country  in  half  an  hour  than  he  would  have  extracted 
from  a  hundredweight  of  official  reports.  He  was  made  to 
understand  the  difference  which  the  Irish  peasant  always 


126  LORD  MELBOURNE 

sees  between  agrarian  and  ordinary  crime.  The  land 
question  and  the  tithe  question  were  presented  to  him  in 
the  lurid  light  of  real  life,  with  instances  of  lawless  redress 
at  the  cost  of  the  unfortunate  process-server  and  small 
proprietor.  'And  why  don't  they  go  at  the  big  ones?' 
asked  Lamb.  Most  were  absentees,  was  the  reply,  and  the 
rest  they  did  'go  at '  when  they  got  the  chance.  There 
was  a  landlord  in  Tipperary  who  went  by  the  name  of  the 
Woodcock,  because  he  was  so  hard  to  hit.  Lamb  took  his 
deputations  in  hand  in  the  same  style.  He  would  draw 
them  out ;  he  would  hear  everything  they  had  to  say  ; 
perhaps  banter  them  a  little  to  keep  them  in  good 
humour,  and  send  them  away  well  pleased  on  the  whole 
with  him  and  still  more  with  themselves.  The  truth  is  that 
Lamb  had  a  great  deal  of  the  Irishman  in  him — the  same 
free  and  easy  manners,  the  same  glow  of  humour  and  the 
same  inbred  courtesy.  That  he  was  popular  there  can  be 
no  question.  He  even  stole  into  the  good  graces  of 
O'Connell,  and  there  was  some  talk  of  putting  him  up  for 
Dublin. 

In  the  experience  of  his  official  life  he  met  with  many 
things  that  amused  and  surprised  him.  He  found  that 
Dublin  had  its  'kept'  newspapers.  The  Government 
advertisements  were  given  exclusively  to  certain  journals, 
and  as  proclamations  were  frequent  and  lengthy  they  were  a 
valuable  source  of  income.  Of  course,  an  equivalent  was 
given,  but  the  advocacy  which  was  supposed  to  repay 
the  patronage  limited  the  circulation.  Lamb  thought  the 
arrangement  costly  and  useless.  He  was  for  abolishing  the 
advertisements  and  requiring  the  papers  to  publish  Govern- 
ment notices  gratis.  He  found  nobody  to  favour  his 
proposal.     Even   Plunket  laughed  at  him.     Then  he  had 


CHIEF  SECRETARY  FOR  IRELAND     1 27 

reason  to  believe  that  things  were  not  quite  as  they  should 
be  at  the  Post  Office.  In  former  days  the  Government  used 
to  open  letters  for  their  own  purposes — and  perhaps  did  so 
still  occasionally.  The  officials  naturally  thought  that  they 
might  follow  the  example  on  their  own  behoof.  An  Orange 
postmaster,  or  an  applicant  for  patronage  who  found  means 
to  enlist  that  official's  services,  might  often  like  to  know 
what  was  passing  between  the  Chief  Secretary  and  the 
authorities  in  London.  The  Under-Secretary  at  the  Home 
Office  felt  persuaded  that  the  letters  sent  to  him  had  been 
opened.  The  danger  was  all  the  greater  because  Lamb 
wrote  freely,  sometimes  using  epithets  and  favourite  ex- 
pletives, which  would  not  be  agreeable  reading  for  those 
to  whose  names  they  were  attached.  On  one  occasion,  when 
it  happened  to  be  the  name  of  a  lady  engaged  in  some 
patronage  hunt,  Lamb  was  terrified  at  the  suggestion,  made 
perhaps  to  frighten  him,  that  his  letter  might  have  passed 
under  the  lady's  eyes.  The  patronage  hunters  were  a  con- 
stant source  of  annoyance.  People  of  position  fancied  that 
everything  was  to  be  had  for  the  asking.  Peers,  bishops, 
squires,  and  parsons,  all  were  playing  the  same  game. 
Posts  under  Government,  berths  in  the  customs  or  excise, 
next  presentations,  all  were  so  much  game  that  had  to  be 
run  down.  Nobody  dreamed  of  such  a  thing  as  merit.  All 
sense  of  public  duty  seemed  to  be  extinct.  Corruption 
flowed  through  a  hundred  mean  and  petty  channels,  and 
every  refusal  meant  reprisals  somewhere.  The  social  pecu- 
liarities of  Ireland  had  to  be  borne  in  mind  in  amending 
the  laws,  since  what  seemed  desirable  on  the  score  of 
simplicity  might  turn  out  mischievous  in  practice.  In 
Ireland  coroners  and  sheriffs  had  always  had  concurrent 
powers  in  execution  of  civil  process.     Just  before  Lamb's 


128  LORD    MELBOURNE 


time,  Dick  Martin,  as  Mr.  Spring  Rice  calls  him,  an  Irish 
gentleman  well  known  for  his  humanity  and  impecuniosity, 
had  prevailed  upon  Goulburn  to  pass  a  measure  abolishing 
the  powers  of  the  coroner,  on  the  plea  of  assimilating  the 
laws  of  the  two  countries.  The  result  was  not  foreseen, 
though  it  was  probably  clear  enough  to  Mr.  Martin.  The 
difficulty  of  recovering  debts  was  augmented  ten-fold,  and 
there  was  an  official  recommendation  to  return  to  the  former 
practice.  On  a  rumour  to  this  effect  getting  abroad,  '  a 
magistrate  and  a  grand  juror,  a  late  high  employe  of  the  Go- 
vernment and  a  near  relation  of  a  noble  friend  of  yours  and 
mine,  wrote  to  Mr.  Spring  Rice  to  ask  whether  it  was  true. 
Have  the  goodness  to  drop  me  a  line  to  say  if  this  is  to  be 
the  case,  for  if  it  be  so  all  poor  gentlemen  who  happen  to 
be  in  difficulties  must  fly  the  country.  God  forbid  that  it 
should  be  so  ! ' 

It  has  been  said  that  Lamb  did  not  do  much  in  Ireland, 
and  there  is,  of  course,  some  truth  in  the  observation. 
But  no  man  in  his  position  could  have  done  much,  and 
probably  no  man  could  have  done  more  than  he  did  in 
the  same  time  and  with  no  greater  opportunities.  One 
thing  at  any  rate  he  did  which  remains  as  a  slight  but  en- 
during memorial  of  his  administration.  He  gave  an  example 
of  the  spirit  in  which  Ireland  should  be  governed.  A 
hitherto  proscribed  party  and  persecuted  race  felt  that  they 
had  a  friend  in  him.  If  all  our  relations  to  Ireland,  legisla- 
tive and  administrative,  could  by  some  miracle  have  been 
brought  into  harmony  with  the  just  and  benign  sentiments 
with  which  he  was  inspired,  we  should  have  been  spared 
years  of  agitation,  and  events  might  have  taken  a  different 
course.  He  stayed  long  enough  in  Ireland  to  witness  the 
final  gathering   and  concentration  of  those  popular  forces 


CHIEF  SECRETARY  FOR  IRELAND      1 29 

which  were  soon  to  bear  down  all  resistance.  On  January 
13,  1828,  the  Catholics  throughout  Ireland  assembled  at 
the  same  hour  in  their  chapels  to  send  up  their  prayers  to 
Heaven  for  deliverance  from  an  oppressive  law  which  de- 
prived them  of  the  common  rights  of  citizenship  because  of 
their  creed.  The  call  to  devotion  reverberated  all  over  the 
land,  and  six  millions  of  people  fell  on  their  knees.  It  was 
a  function  in  which  patriotism  and  religion  were  combined, 
and  the  circumstances  which  occasioned  the  demonstration 
also  brought  Lamb's  mission  to  an  end. 

Lord  Goderich  had  proved  himself  unequal  to  the  task 
he  had  undertaken.  He  had  been  surprised  into  taking 
office  on  an  emergency  for  which  everybody  was  unpre- 
pared. Since  then  there  had  been  time  for  reflection. 
The  King  was  no  longer  in  the  same  mood.  He  had  for- 
gotten the  little  pique  in  the  matter  of  the  royal  prerogative 
which  had  led  him  to  prefer  Canning  to  Wellington  and 
Peel.  A  Tory  in  all  his  later  sympathies,  and  much  exer- 
cised in  his  sensitive  conscience  on  the  Catholic  question, 
he  was  anxious  to  bring  the  Tories  back  to  power.  On  the 
other  hand  the  Cabinet  needed  strengthening,  and,  as  parties 
stood,  this  was  only  possible  by  a  further  infusion  of  the 
Whig  element  which  would  have  made  it  still  less  accept- 
able. At  this  juncture  a  letter  from  Lord  Goderich  pro- 
posing the  addition  of  Lords  Holland  and  Wellesley  to 
the  Cabinet,  but  at  the  same  time  regretting  that  domestic 
circumstances  occasionally  prevented  him  from  discharging 
his  official  duties,  gave  the  King  the  opportunity  for  which 
he  had  been  watching.  Lord  Goderich  was  relieved  of  his 
burden,  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  received  the  King's 
command  to  form  a  Government. 

Ireland  was  naturally  among  the  preoccupations  of  the 

K 


130  LORD   MELBOURNE 

new  premier.  The  news  of  his  appointment  had  thrown 
the  Catholics  into  a  ferment,  and  occasioned  the  impressive 
demonstration  of  January  13.  Actuated  by  strategical  as 
well  as  by  pious  motives,  they  had  sought  a  refuge  in  prayer. 
It  must  have  been  an  object  with  the  Duke  to  calm  their 
excitement,  and  this  view  would  be  best  promoted  by  keep- 
ing Lamb  at  his  post.  Accordingly  the  Duke  wrote  to  him 
expressing  a  hope  that  he  would  remain,  and  Lamb  on  his 
part  desired  nothing  better.  But  before  he  could  give  his 
consent  there  were  scruples  that  had  to  be  considered.  He 
had  gone  back  some  paces  when  he  accepted  office  under 
Canning,  but  it  would  be  a  long  stride  still  further  back- 
wards if  he  cast  in  his  lot  with  a  Tory  administration  pure 
and  simple.  Some  of  his  colleagues  were  in  the  same 
dilemma,  and,  before  deciding,  he  thought  it  prudent  to  see 
what  they  meant  to  do. 

With  this  view  he  left  Dublin  on  January  23,  and  as 
events  turned  out  he  did  not  return.  On  reaching  London 
he  found  things  even  worse  than  he  perhaps  expected.  The 
Whigs  who  joined  Canning  were  not  included  in  the 
ministerial  arrangements.  The  Duke  had  not  passed  the 
compliment  of  inviting  them  to  stay.  Among  those  who 
were  left  outside  were  Lord  Lansdowne  and  Mr.  Spring 
Rice,  with  whom  Lamb  had  been  in  daily  communication 
for  the  previous  six  months.  On  the  other  hand,  Palmer- 
ston,  Grant,  and  Dudley,  with  all  of  whom  he  was  on  terms 
of  intimacy,  had  been  asked  to  remain,  and  the  invitation 
had  even  been  extended  to  Huskisson.  It  was  probably 
this  last  circumstance  that  determined  Lamb.  He  saw  no 
good  reason  why  he  should  sever  himself  from  a  relative 
with  whose  principles  he  was  in  full  accord,  and  whose 
influential  position  in  the  ministry  would  give  to  it  some 


CHIEF   SECRETARY   FOR   IRELAND  13I 

tincture  of  Liberalism.  Nevertheless,  it  completed  his 
rupture  with  the  Whigs,  and  it  was  a  step  for  which  he  had 
soon  to  pay  dear. 

The  first  sacrifice  exacted  of  him  was  to  vote  in  oppo- 
sition to  one  of  his  strongest  convictions.  No  man  living 
was  more  tolerant  than  Lamb  ;  no  man  was  more  deeply 
penetrated  with  a  sense  of  what  was  just  and  right  and 
fair,  as  between  different  sections  of  the  community,  and  if 
it  had  fallen  to  his  lot  to  move  the  repeal  of  the  Test  and 
Corporation  Acts,  he  would  have  undertaken  the  task  with 
the  liveliest  satisfaction.  But  when  Lord  John  Russell 
brought  in  a  Bill  for  this  purpose  in  the  session  of  1828, 
Lamb  had  to  vote  against  it.  He  had  only  just  accepted 
the  Government  shilling,  and  it  was  too  soon  to  turn  tail. 
Perhaps  the  sacrifice  was  less  hard  and  less  inconsistent  with 
his  principles  than  might  be  supposed.  He  had  an  old 
prejudice  against  Dissenters.  To  the  surprise  of  all  parties, 
and  not  least  of  Lord  John  himself,  the  Government  were 
defeated  by  a  majority  of  44,  and  Peel,  finding  that  they 
had  been  abandoned  by  many  of  their  own  supporters, 
announced  that  no  further  opposition  would  be  offered  to 
the  Bill.  To  be  a  Tory  was  bad  enough,  but  to  be  beaten 
by  Tories  on  a  question  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  was 
unexpected  ignominy,  and  Lamb  must  have  felt  his  position 
acutely. 

But  a  more  serious  crisis  was  approaching.  The  question 
on  which  it  occurred  looks  insignificant  to  us  now,  though 
it  was  then  regarded  as  of  vast  importance,  and  the  division 
of  opinion  it  created  almost  rent  the  Government  to  its 
foundations.  The  boroughs  of  Penryn  and  East  Retford 
had  been  found  guilty  of  shameful  corruption,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  they  should  be  disfranchised.     But  there  was  a 

K  2 


I32  LORD   MELBOURNE 

difficulty  as  to  what  should  be  done  with  the  seats.  Part  of 
the  Cabinet  were  for  throwing  both  places  into  their  respec- 
tive hundreds,  and  so  keeping  both  seats  for  the  counties  ; 
another  part  were  for  transferring  the  seats  to  two  of  the 
great  towns  which  were  then  unrepresented,  Manchester 
and  Birmingham  being  the  towns  named ;  while  still  another 
were  for  a  compromise,  throwing  one  of  the  places  into  the 
hundreds  and  giving  the  seats  of  the  other  to  a  town,  and 
this  plan  was  finally  adopted.  The  Bill  for  Penryn,  pro- 
viding for  the  transfer  of  the  seats  to  Manchester,  passed 
the  House  first,  and  was  sent  to  the  Lords.  The  Bill  for 
East  Retford  was  kept  back  in  the  Commons  till  it  should 
be  seen  what  the  Lords  did  with  the  Penryn  Bill.  The 
Government  were  divided  on  the  question ;  but  Peel,  who 
acted  for  the  Duke  of  Wellington  as  well  as  for  himself, 
meant,  in  any  case,  to  vote  for  throwing  East  Retford  into 
the  hundred  of  Bassetlaw,  while  Huskisson  adhered  to  the 
view  he  had  declared  all  along,  that  if  one  of  the  places  was 
thrown  into  the  hundred,  the  seats  for  the  other  should  be 
transferred  to  a  large  town.  By  the  time  the  East  Retford 
Bill  came  to  be  dealt  with,  it  was  certain  that  the  Lords 
would  not  agree  to  transfer  the  seats  to  Manchester.  That 
being  the  case,  Huskisson  held  that  his  course  was  clear. 
He  could  not  vote  for  throwing  East  Retford  into  the 
hundred,  and  in  the  division  he  and  Peel  took  opposite 
sides.  Palmerston  and  Grant  voted  with  Huskisson,  so 
that  there  was  a  pretty  large  rent  in  the  Government  mantle. 
The  affair  might  have  blown  over  but  for  the  course  which 
Huskisson  thought  it  his  duty  to  take.  On  going  home 
after  the  division,  he  wrote  a  note  to  the  Duke  tendering 
his  resignation,  and  received  a  reply  the  next  morning  in 
which  the  Duke  informed  him  that  he  had  laid  his  letter 


CHIEF  SECRETARY  FOR  IRELAND     1 33 

before  the  King.  Palmerston  interposed  with  the  Duke, 
urging  that  Huskisson  did  not  wish  to  resign,  but  merely 
offered  to  resign  if  his  resignation  should  be  thought  neces- 
sary. Huskisson  also  wrote  an  explanatory  letter  to  the 
same  effect.  But  the  Duke,  blind  to  consequences,  wanted 
to  get  rid  of  Huskisson,  and  refused  to  consider  his  first 
letter  as  anything  else  than  an  unconditional  resignation. 
Huskisson  being  thus  declared  out,  as  the  Duke  alleged,  by 
his  own  act,  Palmerston,  Dudley,  Grant,  and  Lamb  at  once 
resigned.  Lamb  had  voted  with  the  Government,  and  was 
not  obliged  to  resign,  but  he  decided  to  go  with  his  friends. 
Too  good  for  the  Tories,  and  not  yet  qualified  for  admission, 
or,  in  Lamb's  case,  for  re-admission,  into  the  true  church 
where  Grey,  and  Althorp,  and  Russell  were  the  ministering 
hierophants,  the  followers  of  Canning  formed,  for  a  time,  a 
group  by  themselves.  '  Our  party,'  says  Lord  Palmerston 
in  his  diary,  '  though  small,  is  very  respectable.'  It  con- 
sisted of  about  eleven  peers  and  twenty-seven  members  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  among  them  Lamb  henceforth 
occupies  a  conspicuous  place. 

By  this  time  Lamb  was  no  longer  a  commoner.  His 
father  died  on  July  22,  1828,  in  his  eighty-third  year.  In 
the  previous  January  he  had  sustained  another  loss — for 
a  loss  it  was,  and  deeply  felt,  notwithstanding  the  painful 
memories  which  it  wound  up  and  consummated.  On  his 
return  from  Ireland  he  was  summoned  to  his  wife's  bedside, 
and  a  few  days  after  his  arrival  she  breathed  her  last. 
During  his  six  months'  absence  they  had  regularly  corre- 
sponded with  each  other.  The  old  alienation  had  dis- 
appeared, and  the  fondness  of  old  days  had  seemed  to  come 
back.  After  storms  and  whirlwinds  the  wearied  heart  had 
sunk  exhausted  into  repose,  and  there  was  a  tranquil  setting. 


134  LORD   MELBOURNE 

His  home  was  now  desolate.  Only  his  son  remained, 
affording  him  the  solace  of  pity  and  grief.  His  father's 
death,  by  giving  him  succession  to  a  peerage,  had  an 
important  effect  upon  his  political  prospects.  He  was  but 
ill-suited  to  the  atmosphere  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
where  the  prize  of  victory  is  won  not  without  dust  and  heat, 
and  if  he  had  remained  there  he  never  could  have  attained 
to  the  position  which  proved  to  be  in  store  for  him.  In 
another  place  his  mild  eloquence  might  spend  its  charms 
upon  a  more  patient,  a  more  respectful,  perhaps  a  more 
appreciative  audience,  and  it  was  even  possible  that  turbulent 
rivals  who  could  not  yield  to  each  other  might  agree  to  find 
shelter  under  a  reputation  which  excited  no  envy,  while  it 
inspired  affection  and  even  respect. 


135 


CHAPTER   VIII 

AT    THE    HOME    OFFICE 

Lamb,  now  Viscount  Melbourne,  in  the  House  of  Lords— Catholic 
Emancipation —Death  of  George  IV. — The  Administration  on  the 
shoals— A  revolution  in  Paris,  and  a  threatened  one  at  home — The 
Duke  is  afraid  to  visit  the  City  —The  Canningites  declare  for  Par- 
liamentary Reform  and  prepare  to  join  the  Whigs— Melbourne 
moves  with  them,  but  slowly— Earl  Grey  in  power — Melbourne 
Home  Secretary — The  Reform  Bill — Melbourne's  mind  quite  made 
up— Work  at  the  Home  Office  — Mr.  Thomas  Young  and  Mr. 
Francis  Place. 

When  Parliament  met  in  February  1829,  Lamb  took  his 
seat  in  the  House  of  Lords  as  Viscount  Melbourne,  and  we 
are  at  length  enabled  to  speak  of  him  under  the  designation 
with  which  his  political  career  is  chiefly  associated.  He  was 
now  fifty  years  of  age,  and  he  had  been  for  twenty-five 
years  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  but  to  the 
country  at  large  he  was  almost  an  unknown  man.  He  had 
made  no  great  speeches,  he  had  done  nothing  to  impress 
himself  upon  the  imagination  of  the  public,  and  if  instead 
of  going  to  the  House  of  Lords  he  had  disappeared  at  that 
moment  from  the  scene  of  affairs,  the  world  would  hardly 
have  remembered  that  he  had  lived  at  all.  The  change  of 
rank  and  name  coincided  with  a  change  in  his  own  position. 
He  was  soon  to  float  or  to  be  forced  into  greater  prominence. 
The  country  would  learn  before  long  that  Lord  Melbourne 
was  a  personage  of  some  importance  among  the  leading 


136  LORD    MELBOURNE 

politicians  of  the  day.  And  the  name  which  he  now 
assumed  for  the  first  time  is  not  likely  to  be  forgotten 
while  the  English  race  endures.  The  historian  centuries 
hence  will  have  to  explain  that  one  of  the  most  opulent 
and  stately  of  Australian  cities  chose  to  call  itself  after  the 
title  of  a  distinguished  peer  who  figured  about  this  period 
in  the  annals  of  the  mother  country. 

Lord  Melbourne  entered  upon  his  duties  in  the  Upper 
House  at  the  beginning  of  a  memorable  crisis.  The 
Government  had  been  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was 
no  longer  possible  to  offer  a  successful  resistance  to  the 
Catholic  claims.  To  this  conclusion  any  Government  must 
have  been  brought  before  long,  but  the  crisis  was  precipi- 
tated by  the  course  of  events  in  Ireland.  In  the  ministerial 
rearrangements  rendered  necessary  by  the  secession  of  Mr. 
Huskisson  and  his  friends,  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald,  the  member 
for  County  Clare,  was  appointed  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  and  had  to  go  to  his  constituents  for  re-election. 
This  gave  an  opportunity  to  the  Catholic  Association  which 
the  leaders  were  determined  should  not  pass  unimproved. 
No  one  imagined  that  there  would  be  a  contest,  or  if  a  con- 
test were  ventured  upon  that  it  would  prove  successful. 
Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald  was  one  of  the  most  popular  men  in 
the  county.  The  landlords  could  be  trusted  to  stand  by 
him,  and  their  influence  had  hitherto  been  omnipotent.  It 
had  been  the  custom  since  the  union  to  divide  estates  into 
excessively  small  holdings  and  to  convey  them  on  life  leases. 
This  gave  the  tenants  the  status  of  freeholders,  and  enabled 
them  to  vote  under  the  forty-shilling  franchise.  If  political 
freedom  consisted  in  having  votes,  Ireland  at  that  period  was 
the  land  of  freemen.  In  the  course  of  a  country  walk 
almost  every  man  you  met  was  a  voter.     But  the  landlords 


AT   THE    HOME   OEFICE  1 37 

who  manufactured  the  votes  expected  to  have  the  use  of 
them  on  the  day  of  election,  and  the  customary  right  of  the 
Irish  tenant  to  be  always  a  year  behind  with  his  rent  gave 
his  landlord  the  whip-hand  over  him  in  politics.  This  is 
hardly  a  metaphor.  It  is  said  that  on  important  occasions 
the  forty-shilling  freeholders  were  whipped  to  the  poll. 
But  on  the  occasion  to  which  we  are  now  referring,  the 
greatest  that  had  occurred  since  the  franchise  was  conferred 
upon  Catholics  by  '  Grattan's  Parliament,'  the  landlords 
were  powerless.  Their  power  had  passed  into  the  hand  of 
the  priesthood,  and  when  it  was  known  that  O'Connell 
meant  to  stand  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald  the 
call-to-arms  went  forth  from  every  altar  in  Clare.  The 
incidents  of  the  contest  would  fill  a  volume.  For  once  it 
was  true  that  the  eyes  of  the  whole  country  were  turned 
upon  the  spot  where  the  electoral  verdict  was  to  be  given. 
When  the  poll  began  Ennis  was  one  great  encampment, 
and  when  it  was  announced  at  the  close  that  O'Connell  had 
won  by  nearly  two  to  one,  it  was  felt  that  a  revolution  was 
accomplished. 

The  blow  told  at  once  upon  the  ministry.  O'Connell 
could  not  sit  in  Parliament  because  he  was  a  Catholic,  but 
he  had  been  returned  in  spite  of  his  disability,  and  in  due 
time  he  might  be  expected  to  present  himself  at  the  table 
of  the  House.  He  would  of  course  refuse  to  take  the  oath 
in  the  prescribed  form,  and  be  ordered  to  retire  ;  but  could 
this  be  done  without  any  promise  of  relief?  If  it  could  be 
done  now,  could  it  be  done  after  the  next  election,  when 
every  county  outside  of  Ulster  would  follow  the  example  of 
Clare  ?  The  Duke  of  Wellington  saw  that  it  was  time  to 
surrender,  and  Peel,  though  still  unconverted  in  point  of 
principle,  recognised  the  necessity  of  yielding  to  an  over- 


138  LORD   MELBOURNE 

riding  principle,  the  safety  of  the  State.  The  ultra-Tories 
were  furious  when  the  secret  leaked  out.  Lord  Eldon  at 
once  mounted  guard  over  the  King's  conscience,  and 
Wellington  made  preparations  as  if  for  another  siege  of 
Badajos.  The  royal  conscience  refused  to  yield,  and  had  to 
be  taken  by  storm.  The  Duke  assured  his  Majesty  that 
the  alternative  was  civil  war.  Then  at  last  he  yielded,  but 
after  yielding  he  withdrew  his  word,  and  the  Duke  resigned. 
Then  finally  came  an  absolute  surrender,  which  was  put  into 
writing  so  as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  repudiation,  and  the 
struggle  was  at  an  end.  With  Parliament  the  Government 
had  an  easy  task.  Their  Tory  following  combined  with  the 
Canningites,  and  the  regular  Whig  opposition  ensured  a 
decisive  majority  in  both  Houses.  Before  the  Relief  Bill 
was  introduced  a  Bill  was  passed  for  putting  down  the 
Catholic  Association,  and  a  supplementary  measure  was 
passed  afterwards  for  disfranchising  the  forty-shilling  free- 
holders. This  potent  weapon,  having  fallen  from  the  land- 
lords' hands,  could  not  be  left  in  the  grasp  of  the  priesthood. 
Melbourne  spoke  only  once  in  the  debates  on  these 
measures,  and  that  merely  to  defend  the  previous  Govern- 
ments of  Lord  Liverpool  and  Mr.  Canning  from  censure  in 
not  having  applied  to  Parliament  for  fresh  powers  when  the 
former  Act  suppressing  the  Catholic  Association  was  driven 
through  by  O'Connell's  coach-and-six.  It  was  a  word  on 
behalf  of  those  with  whom  he  had  acted,  and  also  on  his 
own,  since  as  an  ex-Chief  Secretary  he  was  included  in  the 
censure.  For  the  measures  themselves  he  had  nothing  but 
approval.  The  disfranchisement  of  the  forty-shilling  free- 
holders fell  in  with  his  views,  though  Huskisson  and 
Palmerston  were  among  those  who  opposed  it  in  the  other 
House.     We  fear  it  must  be  said  that  he  who  had  once  been 


AT  THE   HOME  OFFICE  1 39 

a  Whig,  and  could  remember  a  time  when  he  was  full  of 
enthusiasm  for  Fox,  was  now  more  lukewarm  in  his  Liberalism 
than  his  two  friends  who  had  served  in  Tory  administrations 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The  wrench  of  separation  had 
been  greater  with  them  than  with  him,  and  when  once  they 
had  parted  with  their  old  associates  they  took  a  longer 
stride  in  advance.  They  were  perhaps  more  keen-sighted. 
They  were  men  of  practical  instincts,  less  given  than 
Melbourne  to  half  moody,  half  mystical  musing,  and  moved 
in  a  more  luminous  atmosphere.  They  saw  clearly  what 
was  coming.  The  party  of  resistance  was  broken  up,  and 
new  combinations  were  on  the  cards.  The  Government 
had  weakened  itself  by  passing  the  great  measure  which 
now  sheds  upon  it  a  flickering  renown.  By  their  sudden 
change  on  the  Catholic  question  they  had  spread  confusion 
through  the  Tory  camp.  The  staunch  old  Tories  who  had 
sworn  by  Lord  Eldon  stood  aloof,  willing  to  strike  and 
wound  them  if  they  could,  and  eager  to  stir  up  any  question 
which  would  be  likely  to  embarrass  them.  In  this  position 
the  Duke  would  have  been  only  too  glad  to  welcome  back 
his  semi-Liberal  allies  whom  he  had  cleared  out  of  the 
Cabinet  with  so  much  gusto  a  year  before.  But  it  was  too 
late  to  hope  for  success  in  that  direction.  The  Canningites 
were  carried  by  force  of  circumstances  with  which  their  own 
political  development  kept  pace  to  the  side  of  the  Whigs 
who  had  with  them  the  promise  of  the  future,  and  the 
Government  could  only  float  helplessly  down  the  stream, 
apprehensive  of  a  fate  which  was  not  long  in  coming. 

On  June  25,  1830,  George  IV.  died  and  William  IV. 
ascended  the  throne.  A  month  later  a  revolution  broke  out 
in  Paris,  and  Charles  X.  was  on  his  way  to  Holyrood. 
There   was   a   sinister   resemblance   between   the   political 


I.40  LORD   MELBOURNE 

situations  of  the  two  countries.  At  the  beginning  of  an 
eventful  week  reactionary  ministries  were  in  power  in  Paris 
and  Westminster.  By  the  end  of  the  week  one  was  over- 
thrown by  a  popular  uprising,  and  the  other  remained 
standing,  or  rather  shaking.  It  is  not  surprising  that  there 
should  have  been  a  strong  impulse  here  to  finish  the  com- 
parison. The  moment  for  completing  it  seemed  to  have 
arrived,  when  on  November  9  the  King  was  dissuaded  by 
his  ministers  from  going  to  the  Lord  Mayor's  banquet  at 
Guildhall,  on  the  ground  that  if  he  went  there  might  be 
such  a  disturbance  of  the  peace  as  would  compel  a  resort 
to  military  force.  '  In  regard  to  myself,'  said  the  Duke,  '  I 
have  no  desire  to  be  massacred,  which  would  have  happened. 
I  would  have  gone  if  the  law  had  been  equal  to  protect  me, 
but  that  was  not  the  case.'  The  Duke  had  dimly  seen  for 
some  time  past  that  the  Government  could  not  go  on  as  it 
was.  Melbourne  and  Palmerston  seem  to  us  now  but  feeble 
folk  for  such  an  emergency,  but  the  Duke  had  made  over- 
tures to  both.  Would  they  come  back,  and  on  what  terms  ? 
They  both  gave  substantially  the  same  answer.  They 
would  not  come  alone  ;  if  they  came  they  must  bring  with 
them  Lord  Lansdowne  and  Earl  Grey.  The  Duke  was 
ready  to  welcome  any  or  all  of  them  but  Earl  Grey,  whom 
he  could  not  imagine  without  a  Reform  Bill  in  his  pocket. 
When  Palmerston  had  given  his  reply  he  went  to  Paris  to 
escape  further  importunities,  but  they  were  renewed  when 
he  came  back.  The  signal  for  the  final  break-up  was  given 
by  Brougham  at  the  end  of  October,  when  he  announced 
his  intention  on  that  day  fortnight  to  bring  the  question  of 
Parliamentary  Reform  before  the  House.  The  day  before 
his  motion  could  come  on,  the  Government  were  defeated 
on  Sir  Henry  Parnell's  motion  for  a  committee  of  inquiry 


AT   THE   HOME   OFFICE  14I 

into  the  Civil  List  ;  the  next  day  they  resigned  and  Earl 
Grey  was  sent  for.  Lord  Palmerston  says  in  his  autobio- 
graphical sketch  :  '  Melbourne,  the  two  Grants,  Binning, 
Littleton,  Graham,  Warrender,  Denison,  and  one  or  two 
others,  had  met  at  my  house  a  few  days  before  to  consider 
what  we  should  do  on  the  motion  which  Brougham  was  to 
make  in  favour  of  Parliamentary  Reform,  and  I  and  the 
Grants  and  Littleton  had  quite  determined  to  vote  for  it.' 
Melbourne  does  not  appear  to  have  then  made  up  his 
mind,  but  a  conclusion  was  soon  forced  upon  him.  Poor 
Huskisson,  who  would  have  had  no  hesitation,  was  no  longer 
one  of  their  number.  He  had  been  killed  two  months 
before  by  the  railway  accident  at  Parkside. 

On  accepting  the  King's  command  to  form  a  ministry, 
Earl  Grey  sent  at  once  for  Lord  Palmerston,  through  whom 
the  adhesion  of  the  Canningite  group  was  easily  secured. 
They  were  willing  to  be  won,  more  willing  even  than  Earl 
Grey  was  to  make  the  necessary  overtures.     Earl  Grey  had 
never  liked  Canning,  and  he   had  as   little    liking  for  his 
followers,  especially  for  those  who  had  gone  over  to  him 
from  the  Whig  party.     But  he  was  now  obliged  to  accept 
them  as  his  friends,  and  their  co-operation  was  invaluable. 
Lord  Palmerston  offered  himself  for  the  Chancellorship  of 
the  Exchequer  with  the  leadership  of  the   House,  but  he 
was   told  that  this  post  was   reserved  for   Lord   Althorp. 
His  next  choice  was  the  Foreign  Office,  for  which  indeed 
he  had  special  aptitudes,  and  the  Home  Office  was  bestowed 
upon  Lord  Melbourne.     Lord  John  Russell  had  earned  a 
place  in  the  Cabinet,   but  he  was   for  the  present  to  be 
content  with  an  outside  appointment  as  Paymaster  of  the 
Forces.     As  for  Brougham,  imperious,  self-willed,  unfit  for 
rule,  too  turbulent  to  obey,  and  too  powerful   through  his 


142  LORD   MELBOURNE 

influence  with  the  country  to  be  disregarded,  the  one  desire 
of  those  whom  he  would  fain  have  for  colleagues  was  to  get 
him  out  of  the  House  of  Commons.  He  demanded  the 
Lord  Chancellorship  as  the  price  of  his  services,  and  the 
request  could  not  be  refused.  Sir  James  Graham  was  made 
First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  the  Marquis  of  Anglesea 
returned  to  Ireland,  with  Mr.  Stanley,  the  late  Lord  Derby, 
as  his  Chief  Secretary.  This  was  the  principal  cast  for  the 
drama  to  be  played  during  the  next  three  years,  and  for 
the  longer  drama  which  was  to  last  to  the  end  of  Lord 
Melbourne's  career.  With  the  persons  just  named  he  was 
henceforth  to  be  intimately  associated. 

When  Parliament  met  on  February  3,  1831,  a  Reform 
Bill  was  announced  for  March  1,  when  a  struggle  began  of 
unprecedented  interest,  which  was  not  brought  to  a  close  till 
the  end  of  the  following  year.  But  Melbourne  had  to  begin 
work  at  once.  He  had  been  installed  at  the  Home  Office 
in  the  previous  December,  and  the  two  years  during  which 
his  colleagues  were  employed  in  piloting  the  Reform  Bill 
through  both  Houses  covered  the  busiest  period  of  his 
administration.  The  prominence  given  to  the  reform 
debates  has  occasioned  him  some  injustice.  The  extreme 
difficulty  of  the  task  which  fell  to  his  share  has  been  in 
some  measure  overlooked.  While  Althorp  and  Russell 
were  making  speeches  which  were  re-echoed  through  the 
country  day  after  day,  Melbourne  had  to  do  his  best  to 
maintain  '  law  and  order.'  He  was  at  his  desk  from  morning 
to  night,  reading  the  reports  which  poured  in  from  the  local 
authorities  from  one  end  of  the  kingdom  to  the  other,  taking 
counsel  with  those  who  were  best  able  to  advise  him,  and 
devising  measures  for  dealing  with  emergencies  as  fast  as 
they  arose.     Here  we  encounter  a  difficulty  which  it  is  not 


AT   THE   HOME   OFFICE  1 43 

easy  to  overcome.  Those  who  have  not  looked  into  the 
history  of  that  period  can  have  but  a  faint  conception  of 
the  state  of  things  which  prevailed.  It  is  only  sixty  years 
ago,  but  by  any  political  or  social  measurement  the  interval 
might  almost  be  one  of  centuries.  It  is  hard  to  persuade 
ourselves  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington  did  not  speak  with 
great  extravagance  when  he  talked  of  the  probability  of  his 
being  massacred  if  he  went  to  the  banquet  at  Guildhall,  and 
there  was  no  doubt  an  undue  tendency  to  panic  in  the 
public  mind.  But  the  aspect  of  the  country  was  enough  to 
alarm  the  coolest  observers.  Popular  outbreaks  were  con- 
sidered probable,  and  even  imminent,  in  many  of  our  large 
towns,  while  the  agricultural  counties  were  seething  with 
discontent.  In  the  manufacturing  districts  of  the  north, 
multitudes  were  without  employment,  and  the  wages  of 
those  who  could  get  a  little  work  to  do  were  at  the  lowest 
ebb.  The  method  adopted  to  remedy  this  evil  was  to  attack 
the  factories,  break  the  machinery,  and  force  the  workpeople 
into  the  streets  in  order  to  overcome  what  was  regarded  as 
the  obstinate  determination  of  the  employers  not  to  pay 
higher  wages.  It  seemed  to  be  clear  that  inventions  which 
enabled  one  man  to  do  the  work  of  ten  were  adverse  to  the 
interests  of  labour,  and  that  the  capitalists  who  used  them 
were  the  enemies  of  the  working  classes.  Funds  were 
raised  in  spite  of  the  poverty  of  the  contributors,  and  plans 
were  secretly  devised  which  threatened  at  any  moment  to 
break  out  in  open  violence.  In  the  agricultural  districts, 
especially  in  the  south,  things  were  even  worse.  Farm 
labourers  went  about  in  masses  of  hundreds  or  thousands 
at  a  time,  demanding  bread,  pillaging  the  farmhouses, 
breaking  machines,  and  spreading  havoc  and  terror  through 
whole   counties.     The   rural   population   seemed   to  make 


144  LORD   MELBOURNE 

themselves  willing  agents  of  a  widespread  and  inscrutable 
conspiracy.  A  farmer  woke  up  at  night  to  find  that  his 
rickyards  were  on  fire,  while  the  people  about  him  gave  no 
hell)  and  showed  no  sympathy.  A  mysterious  personage, 
known  only  by  the  name  of  '  Swing,'  issued  his  mandate, 
and  the  food  for  want  of  which  the  poor  were  starving  went 
up  in  smoke  and  flame. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  with  which  Melbourne  had 

to  cope  the  moment  he  entered  upon  his  duties  at  the  Home 

Office,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  showed  himself 

a  capable  and  energetic  administrator.     '  He  has  surprised 

all  about  him,' says  Greville,  'by  a  sudden  display  of  activity 

and  vigour,  rapid  and  diligent  transaction  of  business,  for 

which  nobody  was  prepared.'     Of  his  unwearied  assiduity 

the  letters  published  in  the  Melbourne  Papers,   '  selected,' 

we  are  told,  '  from  hundreds  of  a  similar  character,'  afford 

ample  evidence.     He  had  difficulties  with  the  magistracy  in 

different  parts  of  the  country.     Sometimes  they  refused  to 

act ;  sometimes  their  action  was  too  swift  and  inconsiderate  ; 

sometimes  they  pestered  him  about  impracticable  remedies, 

while  they  neglected  to  use  those  which  were  within  their 

power.    He  found  everywhere,  among  the  influential  classes, 

a    strange    indifference    to    co-operate   with    each   other  in 

repressing    disorder.       Jealousies    prevailed    between    the 

industrial  and  the  landed  aristocracies  which  rendered  both 

powerless.     For   the   most   part   they  preferred  to  look  on 

with  folded  arms  and  appeal  to  the  Home  Office  to  do  for 

them  what  they  should  have  done  for  themselves.     Nothing 

is  more  strange  than  the  paralysis  which  seems  to  have 

fallen  on  society  at  that  period.     People  were  nerveless, 

despairing,  smitten   with   a  sense  of  helplessness,  full   of 

apprehensions  of  a   dismal   future,  and  in  ill-humour  with 


AT   THE    HOME   OFFICE  145 

everything.  Melbourne  had  by  turns  to  exhort,  reprove, 
stimulate,  and  curb,  giving  all  round  the  advice  which 
seemed  most  suitable  to  the  circumstances.  He  was  in 
constant  correspondence  with  the  Duke  of  Wellington  as  to 
the  disposition  of  the  slender  military  forces  at  the  disposal 
of  the  authorities.  In  Hampshire  '  gangs  of  labourers, 
1,500  strong,  moved  through  the  country,  destroying 
machinery,  burning  farm-buildings,  and  levying  contribu- 
tions.' Acting  in  concert  with  the  War  Office,  he  marched 
troops  into  the  disturbed  districts.  In  December,  a  Special 
Commission  sat  at  Winchester  to  try  the  rioters  in  Berkshire, 
Buckinghamshire,  Herts,  and  Wiltshire,  and  '  no  fewer  than 
1,000  individuals  were  brought  to  justice.' 

But  there  was  one  thing  which  Melbourne  was  most 
reluctant  to  do,  and  another  which  he  would  not  do  under 
any  circumstances.  He  was  slow  to  engage  in  press  prose- 
cutions. He  thought  it  better  that  opinion,  even  if  violent, 
should  have  free  expression,  so  long  as  there  was  no  positive 
instigation  to  mischief.  Carlile  and  Cobbett  were  excep- 
tions ;  they  fell  under  the  ban.  The  former  had  a  heavy 
sentence  at  the  Old  Bailey,  but  the  latter  got  off  through 
the  jury  failing  to  agree.  The  thing  which  he  would  not  do 
was  to  employ  informers.  He  reminded  those  who  recom- 
mended this  step  of  the  shameful  abuses  which  had  resulted 
from  the  spy-system  some  fifteen  years  before,  when  the 
infamous  Oliver,  who  was  in  the  pay  of  the  Home  Office, 
betrayed  a  number  of  misguided  victims  to  the  gallows.  A 
man  named  Comber  was  then  undergoing  a  sentence  of 
imprisonment  in  Brixton  Gaol.  A  Sussex  magistrate,  Mr. 
Henry  Drummond,  represented  him  as  an  agent  likely  to 
be  useful  if  Lord  Melbourne  would  consent  to  employ  him. 
He  might  ingratiate  himself  with  the  incendiaries  and  lead 

L 


146  LORD  MELBOURNE 

them  on  till  the  time  came  for  entrapping  and  hanging 
them.  The  magistrate  was  as  disinterested  as  he  was 
zealous.  Comber  might  set  the  magistrate's  own  ricks  on 
fire  by  way  of  a  beginning.  Mr.  Henry  Drummond  was  at 
that  time  much  given,  in  concert  with  Edward  Irving  and 
other  eminent  divines,  to  the  study  of  unfulfilled  prophecy. 
The  seventh  or  eighth  vial  which  he  proposed  to  pour  out 
upon  Sussex  in  the  shape  of  the  Brixton  convict  was  allowed 
to  remain  undischarged  of  its  contents.  Melbourne  read 
him  a  lecture.  Referring  to  Jeremiah  Brandreth  and  his 
fellow-victims,  he  wrote  :  '  I  make  no  apology  for  bringing 
before  you  this  view  of  the  subject,  as  I  am  sure  you  must 
feel  that,  in  our  desire  to  discover  the  perpetrators  of  these 
most  dangerous  and  atrocious  acts,  we  should  run  as  little 
risk  as  possible  of  involving  innocent  persons  in  accusations, 
and  still  less  of  adopting  measures  which  may  encourage 
the  seduction  of  persons,  now  innocent,  into  the  commission 
of  crime  ?  '  The  lecture  is,  perhaps,  rather  long-winded,  but 
the  sentiments  do  honour  to  him  who  uttered  them. 

After  the  first  twelve  months  the  strain  at  the  Home 
Office  abated  for  a  time.  Politics  came  in  as  a  counter- 
irritant,  and  agitation  in  the  social  form  it  first  assumed 
began  to  subside.  There  was  not  less  suffering,  but  the 
people  were  more  hopeful.  They  knew  in  a  general  way 
that  it  was  proposed  to  make  a  great  change  in  the  compo- 
sition of  the  House  of  Commons.  If  that  change  could  be 
brought  about,  surely  it  would  be  possible  to  make  good 
laws  and  get  rid  of  the  evils  from  which  the  nation  suffered. 
Hence  attention  everywhere  was  fixed  upon  the  Reform 
Bill.  It  became  a  symbol  of  hope  to  those  who  felt  the 
pinch  of  want.  By  some  process,  not  very  clearly  com- 
prehended, it  was  to  act  as  a  universal  remedy.    Then  there 


AT   THE   HOME   OFFICE  1 47 

was  the  joy  which  Reformers  felt  at  the  approaching  realisa- 
tion of  the  visions  that  had  floated  before  their  eyes  for 
half  a  century.  The  ancient  principles  of  the  constitution 
were  about  to  be  vindicated  ;  the  people  were  at  length  to 
be  reinstated  in  their  rights,  too  long  usurped  by  the 
aristocracy  and  the  crown.  In  these  circumstances  public 
feeling  was  raised  to  a  high  pitch  of  excitement,  and  it  wras 
felt  that  if  anything  went  wrong  with  the  Bill  serious  events 
might  happen. 

It  is  needless  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  Bill  in  the 
two  Houses.  The  struggle  will  never  cease  to  be  one  of 
the  most  important  that  have  taken  place  in  the  whole 
course  of  our  history,  but  its  proportions  are  not  quite  the 
same  to  us  as  they  were  to  the  last  generation,  and  the 
story  has  been  often  told.  Two  or  three  leading  dates  and 
incidents  will  serve  as  stepping-stones  across  the  stream. 
The  Bill  which  Lord  John  Russell  brought  in  on  March  1 
was  read  a  second  time  by  a  majority  of  one,  and  a  defeat 
in  committee  decided  ministers  to  advise  a  dissolution. 
The  interview  at  which  Earl  Grey  and  Lord  Brougham 
tendered  this  advice  to  the  King  would  suggest  a  scene  for 
the  stage.  The  King  fumed  and  his  eye  flashed  with  anger 
as  he  learned  the  preparations  which  had  been  made  for  his 
going  down  to  the  House,  including  even  the  ordering  out 
of  the  Life  Guards.  His  prerogative  was  doubly  assailed. 
Ministers  had  dared  to  assume  that  he  would  do  as  they 
advised  him,  and  they  had  even  presumed  to  give  orders  to 
the  army  without  his  authority.  But  he  went  all  the  same. 
The  House  of  Lords  was  in  a  state  of  tumult  as  the  Tower 
guns  announced  the  King's  approach.  The  Ministerial 
decision  had  taken  the  peers  by  surprise.  They  dreaded  an 
appeal  to  the  country,  and  sincerely  believed  that  they  were 

L  2 


148  lord  Melbourne: 

standing  on  the  brink  of  a  revolution.  The  King  insisted 
upon  wearing  his  crown,  though  the  coronation  had  not  yet 
taken  place.  He  also  insisted  upon  putting  it  on  himself, 
and  he  put  it  on  awry.  Greville  enters  in  his  diary,  '  George 
Villiers  said  that  in  his  life  he  never  saw  such  a  scene,  and 
as  he  looked  at  the  King  upon  the  throne,  with  the  crown 
loose  upon  his  head  and  the  tall  grim  figure  of  Lord  Grey 
close  beside  him  with  the  sword  of  state  in  his  hand,  it  was 
as  if  the  King  had  got  his  executioner  by  his  side,  and  the 
whole  picture  looked  strikingly  typical  of  his  and  our  future 
destinies.' 

The  new  Parliament  met  after  a  short  interval  and  a 
second  Reform  Bill  was  introduced.  Ministers  were  now  all- 
powerful  in  the  House  of  Commons.  The  Bill  was  read  a 
third  time  by  a  majority  of  106,  and  on  October  3  the 
debate  on  the  second  reading  began  in  the  Lords.  The 
only  speech  with  which  we  are  here  concerned  is  Lord 
Melbourne's,  not  perhaps  the  weightiest  that  was  delivered 
on  that  great  occasion,  but  nevertheless  interesting,  since  he 
spoke  the  experience  of  many  besides  himself.  He  had  to 
acknowledge  and  justify  his  recantation.  He  had  to  confess 
that  hitherto  he  had  resisted  every  movement  towards 
reform.  He  had  even  opposed  the  transfer  of  the  East 
Retford  seats  to  Birmingham.  He  did  so  from  a  persuasion 
that  if  you  once  began  there  could  be  no  stopping.  Man- 
chester had  as  good  a  claim  to  representation  as  Birmingham, 
and  a  dozen  other  towns  as  good  a  claim  as  either.  Much 
the  same  might  be  said  of  the  whole  country,  which  had 
grown  immensely  in  wealth  and  population.  Of  one  thing 
Melbourne  declared  himself  convinced.  There  could  be  no 
half  measures,  and  as  it  was  settled  by  the  irrevocable  voice 
of  the  nation  that  the  old  system  must  go,  the  largest  con- 


AT    THE    HOME   OFFICE  I49 

cessions  would  be  the  wisest.  The  speech  is  delightful 
reading,  solemn,  sententious,  and  rich  with  constitutional 
lore.  It  goes  in  a  ruminating  way  to  the  bottom  of  things. 
Is  it  not  sometimes  the  duty  of  the  Legislature  to  resist  the 
will  of  the  people  ?  asked  the  opponents  of  the  Bill. 
Certainly,  is  the  admission  in  reply.  '  But,  my  lords, 
although  it  may  be  our  duty  to  resist  the  will  of  the  people 
for  a  time,  is  it  possible  to  resist  it  for  ever,  and  have  we 
not  in  this  case  resisted  it  long  enough  ? '  He  quotes  '  that 
great  philosopher  and  statesman  Lord  Bacon  '  to  show  that 
though  change  is  undesirable  in  civil  affairs,  it  is  inevitable 
when  that  which  it  is  proposed  to  change  is  no  longer  sup- 
ported by  authority  and  consent.  He  draws  upon  his  ex- 
perience at  the  Home  Office  to  warn  their  lordships  that 
popular  feeling  may  break  out  with  irresistible  violence  if 
resistance  is  prolonged,  and  winds  up  by  reminding  them 
of  the  advice  of  the  Roman  Consul  when  preparing  his 
decisive  march  against  the  Carthaginian  general,  '  a  march 
which  perhaps  changed  the  destinies  of  the  world — only  do 
not  procrastinate  ;  do  not  make  a  measure  which  is  safe  if 
adopted  immediately  dangerous  by  delay.'  The  sentiment 
sounds  more  weighty  and  solemn  in  the  words  of  the 
Roman  historian,  which  are  added  as  if  to  clinch  the 
argument. 

Lord  Melbourne's  speech,  with  all  its  persuasiveness,  did 
not  convert  the  peers.  The  Bill  was  thrown  out  on  the 
second  reading  by  a  majority  of  41.  He  had  then  the 
uneasy  satisfaction  of  finding  his  forebodings  too  soon  and 
too  fully  realised.  The  country  was  brought  at  once  to  the 
verge  of  civil  war,  and  he  had  to  sit  from  morning  till  night  at 
the  Home  Office  to  take  measures  for  the  preservation  of 
order.    The  restless  spirits  who  hang  on  to  the  skirts  of  ever)- 


ISO  LORD   MELBOURNE 

popular  movement  were  eager  for  mischief.  Nottingham 
Castle  was  set  on  fire.  Bristol  was  for  three  days  in  the 
hands  of  the  mob.  These  and  similar  outbreaks  were 
speedily  suppressed.  There  was  much  greater  difficulty 
in  dealing  with  the  Birmingham  Political  Union  and  the 
mighty  force  of  opinion  which  it  embodied.  A  meeting  of 
150,000  men  assembled  in  October  soon  after  the  fate  of 
the  Bill  was  known.  They  were  advised  to  come  armed, 
but  this  advice  was  countermanded.  They  voted  an  address 
to  the  King,  praying  his  Majesty  to  create  as  many  peers 
as  might  be  necessary  to  pass  the  Bill,  and  they  pledged 
themselves  to  pay  no  taxes  in  the  event  of  its  being  rejected. 
They  also  passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Lord  Althorp  and 
Lord  John  Russell,  who  had  borne  the  brunt  of  the  battle 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  upon  whose  constancy  the 
issue  of  the  struggle  depended.  Lord  John  wrote  at  once 
in  reply  :  '  Our  prospects  are  obscured  for  a  moment,  but  I 
trust  only  for  a  moment.  It  is  impossible  that  the  whisper 
of  a  faction  should  prevail  against  the  voice  of  a  nation.' 

Melbourne  had  to  keep  a  watchful  eye  on  all  these 
movements.  He  was  no  red-tapist.  There  was  in  him, 
when  fully  roused,  a  practical  sagacity  corresponding  to 
mother-wit,  and  he  was  deterred  by  no  false  pride  from 
adapting  means  to  ends.  When  he  wanted  information  he 
turned  to  his  friend  Mr.  Francis  Place,  the  philosophical 
tailor  of  Charing  Cross.  Place  was  a  friend  of  Bentham,  a 
contributor  to  the  '  Westminster  Review,'  and  the  author  of 
a  work  on  the  '  Principle  of  Population.'  Melbourne  had 
long  known  him  in  connection  with  the  Westminster  elec- 
tions, in  which  his  influence  always  went  a  long  way.  He 
was  acquainted  with  most  of  the  leading  politicians  of  the 
Radical   party   in    London,  with   Burdett,    Hobhouse,    de 


AT   THE   HOME  OFFICE  151 

Lacy  Evans,  Hume,  and  Roebuck,  and  he  was  in  touch 
with  the  ruling  spirits  at  Birmingham  and  elsewhere.  His 
shop  was  almost  as  good  as  a  club.  Politicians  would 
lounge  in  there  and  learn  the  latest  news,  while  humbler 
members  of  the  party,  struck  perhaps  with  some  bright  idea 
which  might  help  on  the  cause,  would  go  to  him  for  advice. 
If  anything  was  in  the  wind  Place  was  sure  to  know  of  it. 
If  any  excessively  prudent  person,  fearing  lest  some  popular 
ebullition  might  do  harm,  wished  to  whisper  a  hint  in  the 
right  quarter,  Place  was  the  best  medium  through  which  the 
whisper  might  be  sent.  Notable  men  from  the  country, 
like  Thomas  Attwood  or  Joseph  Parkes,  never  failed  to 
compare  notes  with  him  when  they  went  to  London  to 
watch  the  progress  of  the  Reform  Bill  at  close  quarters. 
In  Maclise's  '  Portrait  Gallery '  we  see  him  sitting  in  his 
shop,  with  a  row  of  ledgers  behind  him,  bolt  upright,  stiff 
and  angular,  the  hair  brushed  back  from  a  brow  rather  high 
than  spacious,  with  a  face  slightly  puzzled  and  introspective 
in  expression,  and  probably  pale.  Melbourne  had,  as  we 
have  seen,  at  one  time  occupied  a  considerable  space  in 
those  ledgers  from  year  to  year  ;  but  he  was  better  off  now, 
and  writs  were  unnecessary  even  as  reminders.  It  would 
hardly  have  done  to  go  straight  from  the  Home  Office  to 
the  oracle  at  Charing  Cross  ;  but  Melbourne  had  his  brother 
George  to  serve  as  a  go-between,  and  a  yet  more  trusty 
agent,  his  private  secretary,  Mr.  Thomas  Young.  This 
person  was  a  remarkable  character.  He  had  been  recom- 
mended to  Melbourne  by  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  who 
had  employed  him  on  board  his  yacht  when  he  went  to  St. 
Petersburg  to  attend  the  coronation  of  the  Emperor  Nicho- 
las, and  found  him  useful.  He  was  rough-hewn,  vulgar, 
presuming,  but  also  shrewd  and  capable,  and  devoted  to 


15-  LORD   MELBOURNE 

those  whose  pay  lie  took.  It  would  perhaps  be  doing  him 
no  injustice  to  say  that  he  had  the  manners  and  the  fidelity 
of  a  bull-dog.  He  had  his  master's  freedom  of  speech,  but 
the  bluffness  which  was  acquired  and  half-affected  in  the 
one  was  probably  innate  with  the  other.  Melbourne  made 
him  his  private  secretary.  The  appointment  was  a  freak 
of  humour,  almost  a  stroke  of  genius.  Through  him,  Mel- 
bourne was  in  close  contact  with  the  nether  world.  He 
could  learn  at  any  time  what  was  going  on  there.  Place 
was  rather  proud  of  being  on  confidential  terms  with  the 
occupant  of  the  ante-room  at  the  Home  Office,  and  between 
them  they  wielded  a  good  deal  of  influence  over  the  obscurer 
movements  of  the  party. 

Earl  Grey,  a  sincere  reformer,  but  an  aristocrat  to  the 
core,  looked  with  disdain  and  suspicion  upon  the  agitation 
which,  much  against  his  will,  he  had  been  the  means  of 
exciting.  He  could  hardly  brook  his  own  handiwork,  and 
was  especially  exercised  over  the  proceedings  of  the  Bir- 
mingham Political  Union.  The  members  were  giving 
themselves  a  military  organisation.  They  professed  to  be 
peaceful  in  their  aims,  but  they  were  already  pledging  them- 
selves in  a  certain  contingency  not  to  pay  taxes,  and  they 
might  any  day  turn  out  into  the  streets  an  army  ready  for 
action.  The  movement,  moreover,  was  extending.  Unions 
were  being  formed  in  London.  Sir  Francis  Burdett  was 
the  president  of  one  of  them.  They  were  advised  to  carry 
arms,  and- were  beginning  to  call  themselves  the  National 
Guard.  Earl  Grey  was  nervous,  and  urged  Melbourne  to 
take  action  of  some  sort.  Melbourne  was  not  nervous. 
His  maxim  was  that  if  it  was  not  clear  what  ought  to  be 
done  it  was  best  to  do  nothing.  It  is  perhaps  a  good  thing 
that  we  had  a  man  of  his  easy  temperament,  but  at  the 


AT   THE   HOME   OFFICE  1 53 

same  time  a  thoughtful,  brooding,  ingenious  man,  capable 
on  an  emergency  of  great  decision  and  energy,  at  the  head 
of  home  affairs.  He  consented  to  issue  a  proclamation, 
warning  the  Unions  against  the  military  organisation  they 
seemed  disposed  to  assume  ;  he  made  a  private  appeal  to 
Sir  Francis  Burdett ;  he  put  himself  in  communication  with 
Attwood  and  Parkes  at  Birmingham  ;  and  managed,  by 
mingled  expostulation,  forbearance,  and  good  temper,  to 
control  the  storm.  Danger  was  kept  at  bay  till  the  success 
of  Lord  Lyndhurst's  motion  in  committee  on  the  third 
Reform  Bill  led  to  the  resignation  of  ministers,  and  brought 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  into  power  for  three  days.  When 
the  Duke  seemed  to  be  preparing  to  take  the  revolution  in 
hand,  and  the  soldiers  in  the  barracks  at  Birmingham  were 
sharpening  their  swords  for  what  might  happen,  the  danger 
was  extreme  ;  but  it  disappeared  when  the  ministry  were  re- 
instated in  office,  and  the  passing  of  the  Bill  was  rendered 
certain  by  the  consent  of  the  King  to  create  peers  should 
it  be  found  necessary. 

Throughout  the  final  crisis  in  the  Lords,  Melbourne's 
conduct  was  in  harmony  with  his  speech.  Practically  he 
was  a  convinced  reformer.  He  had  no  sympathy  with  the 
waverers.  He  could  not  understand  their  scruples  and 
hesitations.  He  said  to  Greville  that  after  having  swallowed 
the  disfranchisement  of  the  pocket  boroughs,  a  really  useful 
part,  as  he  deemed  it,  of  the  old  system,  he  did  not  see  why 
they  should  strain  at  the  rest.  Palmerston  was  one  of  those 
who  were  willing  to  cut  the  Bill  down  to  suit  the  waverers 
and  make  sure  of  a  majority  in  the  Lords.  He  wrote  to 
Melbourne  in  rather  caustic  terms,  half  upbraiding  him  for 
not  being  in  favour  of  the  scheme,  and  for  having  talked  of 
something  even  more  democratic.     Melbourne's  self-posses- 


154  LORD   MELBOURNE 

sion  and  quiet  balance  of  mind  gave  him  some  advantage 
over  those  who  took  sides  more  passionately.  He  talked 
lightly,  after  his  wont,  on  all  the  aspects  of  the  question, 
much  to  the  bewilderment  of  Greville,  who  was  playing 
rather  fussily  the  part  of  negotiator  between"  the  factions  ; 
but  one  thing  he  saw  clearly.  It  was  of  no  use  passing  a 
measure  which  would  not  satisfy  the  popular  demands. 
That  would  be  labour  in  vain  and  would  make  them  all 
fools.  He  was  opposed  to  the  creating  of  peers  till  the 
necessity  for  it  was  proved.  But  he  stood  by  the  Bill  as  it 
was,  '  The  Bill,  the  whole  Bill,  and  nothing  but  the  Bill,' 
and  felt  an  immense  relief  when  it  received  the  royal  assent, 
though  doubtless,  like  another  statesman,  when  another 
Reform  Bill  was  on  its  way  to  the  statute-book,  he  felt,  in 
common  with  many  of  his  colleagues,  that  it  was  '  a  leap  in 
the  dark.'  The  wisest  men  on  the  eve  of  a  great  change 
can  hardly  be  expected  to  forestall  the  more  cheaply  pur- 
chased wisdom  of  the  next  generation. 


155 


CHAPTER   IX 

PREMIER 

Further  work  at  the  Home  Office — State  of  the  country — Earl  Grey's 
apprehensions — Melbourne  will  have  no  repressive  measures — The 
Dorchester  labourers — Robert  Owen — Irish  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment— Growing  dissensions  in  the  Cabinet — The  passing  of  the 
Reform  Bill  has  severed  the  bond  of  union — O'Connell  and  the 
'  Rupert  of  debate ' — Proposed  secularisation  of  Church  property 
in  Ireland — '  Johnny  upsets  the  coach' — Earl  Grey  resigns — Mel- 
bourne accepts  the  premiership. 

When  the  first  Reform  Parliament  met  in  January  1833 
the  ship  of  the  State  may  be  said  to  have  entered  upon  a 
voyage  in  latitudes  hitherto  untravelled,  where  coast-lines, 
rocks,  shoals,  and  even  the  prevailing  winds  were  all  unknown. 
The  voyage  was  begun,  moreover,  amid  the  ground-swell  of 
a  storm  which  had  hardly  subsided,  and  the  vessel  lurched 
heavily  at  setting  out.  The  agitation  which  led  to  the  pass- 
ing of  the  Reform  Bill  was  social  in  its  motives  and  in  its 
objects,  it  was  political  only  in  its  means.  It  was  not  from 
any  mere  love  of  symmetery,  nor  yet  as  an  assertion  of 
right,  that  the  people  had  demanded  and  obtained  a  new 
House  of  Commons.  They  were  bent  upon  the  redress  of 
evils  which  were  sorely  felt.  The  country  seemed  to  be  going 
to  ruin.  The  towns  swarmed  with  unemployed  workmen. 
The  rural  districts  were  swamped  with  pauperism.  Every 
man  of  note  had  his  patent  remedy.     Attwood  believed 


156  LORD   MELBOURNE 

that  the  one  thing  wanted  was  a  paper  currency.  The 
Birmingham  Political  Union  originated  in  a  crusade  against 
the  despotism  of  bullion.  Other  specifics  had  their  abettors. 
The  number  of  notices  of  new  Bills  at  the  beginning  of  the 
session  gave  some  amusement,  and  more  alarm,  to  the  older 
members.  It  was  at  any  rate  clear  that  there  would  be 
much  disappointment,  and  what  would  happen  when  certain 
fond  illusions  were  dispelled  could  hardly  be  conjectured. 

The  disturbed  state  of  the  country  kept  Melbourne  fully 
employed.  The  Home  Office  was  the  chief  centre  of 
interest  so  far  as  administration  went.  It  was  one  of  the 
peculiar  features  of  the  situation  that  the  upper  classes  were 
in  a  state  of  panic.  They  saw  a  ghost  in  every  shadow,  and 
scented  the  evidence  of  far-reaching  combinations  in  every 
petty  beerhouse  club.  Melbourne  was  not  in  advance  of 
his  age,  especially  on  the  labour  question,  in  which  so  much 
progress  has  been  made  within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century, 
but  his  influence  was  on  the  whole  soothing  and  restraining. 
It  is  also  important  to  remember  that  labour,  poor-law  relief 
in  aid  of  wages,  and  magisterial  jurisdiction  were  so  much 
mixed  up  together,  that  much  which  would  seem  strange 
now  was  then  quite  natural.  We  find  him  writing  in  ex- 
planation of  the  law  to  a  Dorsetshire  magistrate  :  '  The 
farmers,'  he  says,  '  stand  to  the  labourers  in  the  same  rela- 
tion as  the  master  manufacturers  stand  to  their  workmen. 
The  law  with  respect  to  both  is  substantially  the  same.  By 
that  law,  whether  wise  or  unwise,  unions  and  combinations 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  or  of  lowering  wages,  provided 
they  do  not  resort  to  violence,  fraud,  intimidation,  illegal 
oaths,  or  acts  in  themselves  illegal,  are  legal.'  He  had 
apparently  been  asked  whether  the  magistrates  should  not 
advise    the    farmers    to    dismiss    from    their    employment 


PREMIER  157 

labourers  who  had  joined  the  union,  and  having  stated  the 
law  he  bases  on  it  a  conclusive  appeal.  '  How  then  is  it 
possible  for  the  Government  to  advise  the  magistrates,  or 
for  the  magistrates  to  advise  the  farmers,  to  discharge  their 
men  for  doing  that  which  may  not  only  be  legal,  but  just 
and  reasonable  ?  '  At  the  same  time  he  regards  these  com- 
binations as  pernicious,  and  we  learn  from  another  letter 
that  he  would  have  been  glad  to  hear  that  the  farmers  had 
refused  to  employ  labourers  belonging  to  the  union,  if  they 
did  so  of  their  own  accord.  He  also  thinks  that  the  farmers 
should  receive  every  encouragement  and  support  in  such 
proceedings,  '  always  taking  it  for  granted  that  they  have 
themselves  acted  justly,  and  have  not  generally  attempted 
to  reduce  the  wages  of  the  labourers  below  their  fair  and 
natural  level.' 

There  was  no  lack  of  incentives  to  vigorous  action  on 
the  part  of  Melbourne's  colleagues.  We  have  already  seen 
Earl  Grey  taking  alarm  at  the  military  organisation  affected 
by  the  people  at  Birmingham.  His  apprehensions  are 
again  excited  by  a  meeting  which  Mr.  Attwood  summoned 
for  May,  to  discuss  the  policy  of  the  Government.  The 
object,  he  admits,  is  not  unlawful,  but  he  regards  the  means 
employed,  the  calling  upon  the  people  to  come  together 
'  once  more  '  in  their  countless  masses  as  at  least  dangerous 
to  the  public  peace,  and  he  thus  winds  up  :  '  That  it  is 
necessary,  however,  to  take  measures  for  checking  proceed- 
ings, the  avowed  aim  of  which  is  to  overawe  the  King  and 
the  Parliament  by  a  display  of  physical  force,  appears  to  me 
incontestable.'  Lord  Lansdowne  is  also  impressed  with  the 
need  of  vigour.  He  has  heard  of  one  instance  of  successful 
resistance  to  the  payment  of  the  new  house  tax,  and  he 
writes  at  once  to  express  his  strong  conviction  of  the  mis- 


153  LORD   MELBOURNE 

chievous  effect  it  may  produce.    He  'sees  every  appearance, 
not  only  in  London  but  in  almost  every  town,  of  the  for- 
mation of  a  Radical  party,  not  yet  strong  in  numbers,  and 
much  less  in  influence,  but  which  any  semblance  of  triumph 
would   call    into   activity.'     He   therefore   trusts  that  'the 
means   may  be  found  for  preventing  any  further  effectual 
resistance  to  the  law,  for  which  no  effort  should  be  spared.' 
The  Duke  of  Wellington  calls  Melbourne's  attention  to  the 
large  number  of  unions  or  societies  that  exist  in  Hampshire, 
and  holds  himself  ready  to  execute  any  instructions  he  may 
receive.    The  proceedings  of  the  Trades  Unions  had  caused 
some  anxiety  at  Windsor  Castle.     The  King  writes  to  Mel- 
bourne through  his  private  secretary,  pointing  out' that  the 
unions  avow  their  intention  of  appealing  to  brute  force,  and 
that  though  the  varying  interests  of  the  different  trades  may 
prevent  any   general    combination,  they  may  nevertheless 
do  much   harm  to  the  '  commerce  and  prosperity '  of  the 
country.     '  Upon  the  whole,'  so  runs  the  closing  passage, 
with  its  characteristic  italics,  '  the  King  cannot  lose  sight  of 
the  importance  of  endeavouring  to  impose  some  check  to 
the  progress  of  this   evil,  and   to   adopt   some  preventive 
measures,  instead  of  trusting  to  its  decay  after  the  edifice 
shall  have  been  injured,  and  he  is  anxious  that  the  question 
should  be  brought  under  the  consideration  of  his  Govern- 
ment at  the  approaching  meeting  of  the  Cabinet.'     Mel- 
bourne's reply  is  equally  grave  and  amusing.     He  '  partakes 
of  the  opinion '  expressed  by  his  Majesty,  '  that  the  preva- 
lence of  these  combinations  affords   reason  to  apprehend 
that  there  must  be  something  in  the  law  of  the  country  on 
the  subject  inadequate  and  defective,  and  which  requires  to 
be  amended.'     But  '  the  difficulty  is  to  discover  where  the 
inadequacy  and  defect  lies,  and  how  it  is  to  be  supplied  or 


PREMIER  159 

corrected.'  He  gives  the  King  a  summary  of  the  laws  that 
have  been  passed  on  the  subject  from  the  time  of  Edward  I. 
This  early  date  shows,  he  says,  '  the  antiquity  of  the  mis- 
chief.' That  all  these  laws,  thirty-six  in  number,  were 
failures,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  they  were  all  repealed  in 
the  reign  of  his  Majesty's  predecessor,  when  the  law  then 
in  force  was  passed,  and  it  is  probable  that  this  new  law 
will  prove  a  failure  like  the  rest.  The  letter  concludes  in 
the  same  style  of  solemn  rigmarole,  which  was  nevertheless 
suited  to  the  occasion  and  adapted  to  the  royal  capacities. 
'  Upon  the  whole,  Viscount  Melbourne  humbly  trusts  that 
your  Majesty  will  rest  assured  that  the  subject  will  be  con- 
sidered by  his  Majesty's  servants  with  that  circumspection 
which  is  suggested  by  its  evident  difficulty,  and  at  the  same 
time  with  the  firmness  and  determination  which  are  required 
by  its  dangerous  and  formidable  character.' 

Melbourne  resisted  all  these  incentives  to  strain  or  to 
change  the  law.  He  kept  on  the  even  tenor  of  his  way. 
He  had  a  supreme  faculty  for  seeing  where  nothing  could 
be  done,  and  he  had  a  contempt  for  fuss.  Some  ministers 
would  have  been  tempted  to  make  a  reputation  out  of  the 
disorder  which  prevailed.  They  would  have  brought  in 
Bills  of  a  hundred  clauses.  They  would  have  made  moving 
statements  in  Parliament,  and  glorified  their  own  sagacity 
in  the  discovery  of  remedies.  They  would  probably  have 
acquired  much  immediate  fame  by  so  doing.  The  '  friends 
of  order '  would  have  rallied  to  them,  and  the  country 
would  have  been  called  upon  to  be  grateful  that  the  interests 
of  society  were  in  safe  hands.  This  is  what  Sidmouth 
would  have  done,  and  it  is  perhaps  what  one  or  two  of  his 
colleagues  would  have  done  if  they  had  been  in  his  place. 
Melbourne  had  a  keen  scepticism,  and  at  the  same  time  a 


l6o  LORD    MELBOURNE 

large  faith  which  is  sometimes  its  mute  companion.  He 
placed  little  trust  in  Government  interference  where  ordinary 
passions  and  interests  are  concerned,  and  he  had  a  strong 
confidence  in  the  self-adjusting  and  self-rectifying  tendencies 
of  society.  '  Better  do  nothing,'  '  hetter  leave  things  alone,' 
were  with  him  no  maxims  of  indolence,  but  the  dictates  of 
solid  sense  and  natural  insight.  Probably  the  world  would 
have  got  on  much  better  than  it  has  done  if  the  same 
maxims  had  been  more  generally  observed. 

On  due  occasion  Melbourne  could  take  any  amount  of 
trouble,  and  show  that  he  was   not   lacking  in   firmness. 
This  was  seen  in  the  case  of  the  Dorchester  labourers  and 
of  the  efforts  made  on  their  behalf.     They  had  been  found 
guilty  of  belonging  to  a  secret  society  whose  members  were 
bound  together  by  illegal  oaths.     They  were  sentenced  to 
transportation,  and,  to  make  the   sentence   more   impres- 
sive, they  were  conducted  straight  from  the  court  of  justice 
to  the  ship  which  was  to   convey  them  to  Sydney.     The 
National  Trades  Unions  took  up  their  cause,  and  a  great 
agitation  was  set  on  foot  for  their  recall.     But  sympathy  for 
them  was  a  mere  incident  in  a  general  movement  in  advocacy 
of  the  claims  of  labour  as  opposed  to  capital,  and  of  the 
poor  as  the  victims  of  the  rich.     Robert  Owen,  who  cared 
nothing   for  politics,  was  one  of  its  leaders.     He  was  an 
unselfish  but  dreamy  philanthropist,  who  had  his  own  views 
of  the  way  in  which  the  world  was  to  be  regenerated,  and 
in    default  of  better   methods    fell  in  with    the    idea    that 
working  men  should  work  for  each  other.     Hitherto  they 
had  toiled  for   the  wealthy  ;   henceforth  let   them  toil  for 
themselves.     All  that   they  wanted  was  the  machinery  of 
exchange,  and  this  could  be  easily  contrived.     The  Dorset- 
shire  labourers   were  the   victims  of  an  accursed  system. 


PREMIER  l6l 

which  it  was  high  time  to  get  rid  of,  and  the  first  step 
towards  the  freedom  of  industry  could  not  be  taken  in  a 
more  signal  way  than  by  compelling  the  Government  to 
reston-  those  unhappy  men  to  their  native  land.  Accord- 
ingly a  grand  demonstration  of  the  trades  of  London  was 
organised  for  April  21,  to  be  held  in  \\"hite  Conduit  Fields, 
from  which  place  the  many  thousands  that  might  be  expected 
to  assemble  were  to  march  in  procession  to  Whitehall. 
Owen,  who  was  most  anxious  that  everything  should  go  on 
peacefully,  sent  Melbourne  a  few  days  beforehand  a  copy 
of  the  petition  which  he  was  to  be  asked  to  present  to  the 
King,  wishing  to  know  whether  he  would  be  willing  to 
receive  it.  Willing,  certainly,  was  Melbourne's  reply,  if  it 
were  brought  to  him  without  any  show  of  force  or  menace, 
but  not  otherwise.  Owen  understood  what  was  meant,  and 
would  have  persuaded  his  friends  to  entrust  the  presentation 
of  the  petition  to  a  few  safe  hands,  but  this  was  deemed  far 
below  the  importance  of  the  occasion.  The  procession  was 
the  great  thing,  greater  even  than  the  petition,  and  to 
Whitehall  they  would  go.  Melbourne  made  all  the  prepa- 
rations which  prudence  could  suggest.  Special  constables 
were  sworn  in,  and  the  military  held  in  readiness,  but  kept 
carefully  out  of  sight.  When  the  eventful  day  arrived, 
some  twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand  men,  with  flags  and 
bands,  streamed  through  the  streets  of  London  on  their 
way  to  the  Home  Office.  We  have  seen  many  such  sights 
since,  but  they  were  not  so  familiar  then,  and  Melbourne  is 
entitled  to  all  the  honour  which  attends  a  novel  experiment. 
The  business  of  the  procession  was  to  escort  the  deputies, 
and  having  left  them  at  the  Home  Office,  it  moved  on  to 
Kennington  Common  to  await  the  result.  Owen  was  one 
of  the   deputies,   and   the   Rev.   Arthur   Wade,  vicar  of  St. 

M 


162  LORD   MELBOURNE 

Nicholas,  Warwick,  who  had  bestowed  his  benediction  on 
many  a  meeting  of  the  Birmingham  Political  Union,  attired 
in  '  cassock,  gown,  and  bands,'  attended  in  the  capacity  of 
chaplain.  Melbourne,  who  had  watched  the  procession 
from  the  windows,  refused  to  see  them.  He  informed 
them,  by  the  Under-Secretary,  that  he  could  not  receive  a 
petition  presented  with  such  a  display  of  physical  force, 
but  that  he  would  be  ready  to  receive  it  any  other  day  if 
brought  to  him  in  a  proper  manner,  and  lay  it  before  the 
King.  The  result  was  duly  reported  at  Kennington,  with 
the  addition  of  this  official  mandate  :  '  And  now,  brothers, 
it  is  the  order  of  the  council  that  you  all  return  promptly 
and  in  good  order  to  your  several  lodges,  there  to  discuss 
our  future  proceedings.' 

Melbourne's  administration  of  the  Home  Office  at  a 
highly  critical  period  must  be  regarded  as  a  success.  He 
showed  adequate  energy  where  energy  was  required.  His 
slowness  to  act,  resulting  from  excessive  reflectiveness  rather 
than  from  indolence,  was  an  advantage.  The  characteristic 
qualities  of  his  intellect  suited  the  circumstances  with  which 
he  had  to  deal.  The  Government,  as  a  whole,  were  not 
equally  fortunate.  They  passed  two  great  measures  ;  they 
abolished  negro  slavery  in  the  Colonies,  and  they  amended 
the  Poor  Laws.  These  measures  in  all  probability  could 
not  have  been  carried  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  authority 
and  force  imparted  to  the  Legislature  by  the  Reform  Act, 
but  they  nevertheless  represented  the  conclusions  at  which 
thoughtful  men  of  all  parties  had  arrived,  and  can  hardly  be 
regarded  as  the  exclusive  triumph  of  the  Whig  administra- 
tion. Melbourne  had  not  much  to  do  with  either.  His 
experience  at  the  Home  Office  threw  much  light  upon  the 
question  of  the  Poor  Laws,  and  must  have  convinced  him 


PREMIER  163 

that  some  change  was  absolutely  necessary  ;  but  he  had  not 
that  large  acquaintance  with  social  and  economic  principles 
which  would  have  enabled  him  to  take  an  active  part  in  the 
framing  of  a  new  system,  and  he  had  hardly  steel  enough 
in  his  composition  to  be  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the 
harsher  features  of  the  measure  which  was  introduced  and 
carried.  He  had  not  much  to  do  in  the  House  of  Lords 
outside  of  his  own  department.  The  Poor  Law  Amendment 
Bill  naturally  belonged  to  it,  but  its  successful  advocacy 
demanded  powers  which  he  did  not  possess,  and  it  fell  as 
of  right  into  the  hands  of  Lord  Brougham,  whose  encyclo- 
paedic knowledge  and  versatile  talents  were  equal  to  any 
task.  But  these  two  great  measures,  though  they  have 
conferred  a  lasting  splendour  upon  the  first  Reform  Parlia- 
ment, had  little  to  do  with  its  distinctive  and  determining 
policy,  or  with  its  premature  fate.  The  destiny  that  awaited 
it  is  still  a  wonder,  though  it  cannot  be  regarded  as  a 
mystery. 

The  administration  of  Earl  Grey  was  the  first  attempt 
of  the  Liberals  to  govern  the  country  after  an  exile  from 
office  of  half  a  century.  It  was  composed  of  men  who  had 
not  been  accustomed  to  work  together,  and  between  whom 
the  ties  of  principle  were  frail.  Some  of  them  had  been 
associated  with  previous  Tory  Governments,  and  only  pro- 
fessed a  slow  and  modified  conversion.  The  more  liberal 
element  was  not  of  the  same  fibre  throughout.  Earl  Grey 
and  Lord  Althorp  were  the  two  members  of  the  Cabinet 
who  stood  in  the  closest  confidence  with  each  other,  but 
even  they  were  extremely  divergent  in  their  sympathies. 
Aristocratic  and  democratic— these  were  the  opposite  poles 
to  which  they  tended.  Taking  the  Cabinet  as  a  whole, 
they  were  surprised  and  forced  into  concert  on  the  question 

M  2 


104  LORD    MELBOURNE 

of  Parliamentary  Reform.  The  events  of  the  hour,  the 
attitude  of  public  opinion,  and  the  declared  views  of  two 
or  three  who  were  marked  out  as  leaders,  drove  them  to  a 
swift  decision,  and  when  once  the  contest  was  entered  upon 
they  were  compelled  to  keep  together.  When  the  Bill  was 
passed,  the  bond,  which  rather  held  than  united  them,  was 
severed.  Other  questions  then  came  to  the  front,  and  the 
process  of  disintegration  set  in  rapidly. 

It  seems  like  anticipating  history  by  sixty  years  to  say 
that  Ireland  was  the  rock  on  which  the  Government 
foundered.  This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  at  any  length 
into  the  discussion  of  Irish  politics,  but  we  are  dealing  with 
Lord  Melbourne's  career,  and  we  have  to  show  how  it  came 
to  pass  that  he  suddenly  rose  to  the  highest  office  in  the 
State.  In  showing  this  it  will  also  be  shown  how,  though 
certainly  not  endowed  with  supreme  qualifications  for  that 
exalted  position,  he  succeeded  in  retaining  it  so  long.  It 
will  be  found  that  while  the  way  in  which  Irish  questions 
were  treated  was  the  great  defect  of  Earl  Grey's  administra- 
tion, it  was  the  redeeming  feature  of  Lord  Melbourne's. 
The  difference  is  one  that  does  him  honour,  and  all  the 
more  so  since  it  was  largely  due  to  the  influence  of  his 
personal  character,  which,  whatever  its  deficiencies,  was  full 
of  sympathy  and  swayed  by  a  love  of  justice. 

There  was  a  sanguine  hope  that  when  the  Catholic 
Emancipation  Act  became  law  Ireland  would  enter  upon  a 
period  of  repose.  There  must  have  been  disappointment 
in  any  case  unless  other  remedial  measures  had  quickly 
followed,  since  religious  intolerance,  avowed  and  practised 
by  the  State,  was  only  one  of  the  evils  from  which  Ireland 
suffered.  But  it  was  the  most  irritating  and  exacerbating 
grievance,  and  if  due  effect  had  been  given  to  the  eman- 


PREMIER  165 

cipating  statute,  a  pacific  influence  would  have  been  diffused 
through  all  classes,  and  the  accomplishment  of  other  reforms 
would  have  been  rendered  easier.  But  the  law  was  allowed 
to  remain  a  dead  letter.  For  all  practical  purposes,  so  far 
as  local  administration  was  concerned,  it  might  as  well  not 
have  been  passed  at  all.  It  threw  open  official  appointments 
to  Catholics  ;  their  religion  was  no  longer  a  legal  barrier 
to  employment  in  the  service  of  the  State.  But  of  what 
avail  was  this  if  the  Government  steadfastly  refused  to 
employ  them  ?  Their  case  was  made  worse  rather  than 
better.  To  be  disabled  by  law  was  bad  enough,  but  to  be 
disabled  by  the  arbitrary  will  of  those  with  whom  the  power 
of  appointment  rested  was  far  more  mortifying.  If  the 
Tories  had  been  in  office  this  practical  exclusion  from  the 
benefits  of  the  Emancipation  Act  might  have  been  under- 
stood. However  inexcusable,  it  would  at  least  have  been 
intelligible.  But  the  Whigs  were  in  office,  the  very  people 
who  had  been  preaching  Liberalism  for  half  a  century.  What 
could  be  said  of  them  except  that  they  were  as  intolerant 
as  their  predecessors,  and  differed  from  them  only  in  being 
hypocrites  as  well  as  bigots. 

If  the  spirit  of  the  Emancipation  Act  had  been  allowed 
to  control  the  Irish  policy  of  the  Government,  all  posts  of 
honour,  emolument,  or  trust  throughout  Ireland  would  have 
been  thrown  open  to  Catholics  as  freely  as  to  Protestants  ; 
and  as  the  Catholics  were  a  long  way  in  arrear,  the  preference 
should  have  been  given  to  them  till  the  balance  was  fairly 
even.  It  would  have  been  especially  expedient,  to  say 
nothing  of  justice,  to  recognise  the  claims  of  O'Connell. 
He  was  the  most  representative  man  in  Ireland.  All  eyes 
were  turned  to  him,  and  any  honour  done  to  him  would 
have  been  accented  by  six  millions  of  Catholics  as  done 


1 66  LORD   MELBOURNE 

to  themselves.  There  was  no  reason  why  a  place 
should  not  have  been  found  for  him  in  the  Government. 
He  had  not  then  committed  himself  to  the  agitation  for 
repeal.  The  changes  he  desired  as  regards  tithe  and  the 
Irish  Church  were  such  as  men  like  Althorp  and  Russell 
were  eager  to  accomplish.  No  man  was  more  amenable 
to  good  treatment  than  O'Connell.  It  was  relentless  and 
irrational  hostility  that  made  him  impracticable.  Yet  he 
was  held  at  arm's  length,  refused  the  position  at  the  Bar 
which  belonged  to  him  by  customary  right,  and  treated  as  a 
political  pariah.  It  was  an  act  of  transcendent  folly,  and 
both  countries  have  suffered  for  it  ever  since.  The  person 
chiefly  to  blame  is  Earl  Grey  himself,  who,  with  all  his 
excellences,  was  cold,  reserved,  and  proud,  full  of  starched 
traditions,  with  no  feeling  for  what  was  generous,  urbane,  or 
even  politic.  The  mischief  was  completed  when  he  sent  to 
Ireland  as  Chief  Secretary  Mr.  Stanley,  the  late  Lord 
Derby,  a  man  of  infinite  ability,  splendid  in  his  very 
defects,  but  by  no  means  fitted  to  be  the  bearer  of  an  olive 
branch  to  an  impoverished  and  distracted  people  who  were 
willing  to  forget  their  old  resentments,  but  for  that  reason 
only  the  more  sensitive  to  new  affronts.  Melbourne  saw 
and  deplored  the  mischief  which  was  certain  to  ensue.  As 
Home  Secretary,  it  was  within  his  province  to  exercise  some 
control  over  Irish  policy.  But  he  could  hardly  venture  to 
overrule  the  Premier,  and  he  probably  felt  how  hopeless  it 
was  to  expect  from  the  fiery  Chief  Secretary  the  deference 
which  he,  when  holding  the  same  position,  had  shown  to 
Lord  Lansdowne.  He  might  have  resigned,  but  he  perhaps 
reflected  that  this  would  do  no  good,  and  that  it  would  be 
wiser  to  reserve  himself  for  better  opportunities.  His  own 
sense  of  the  failure  of  the  Emancipation  Act  was  expressed 


PREMIER  167 

in  a  pithy  sentence,  the  freedom  of  which  may  be  excused 
for  the  sake  of  its  truth  :  '  What  all  the  wise  men  promised 

has   not    happened,    and  what    all    the    d d   fools  said 

would  happen  has  come  to  pass.' 

Mr.  Stanley  had  no  sooner  set  foot  in  Dublin  Castle 
than  the  duel  between  him  and  O'Connell  began.  The 
question  first  fought  out  was  the  right  of  holding  public 
meetings.  The  Chief  Secretary  had  the  law  on  his  side,  and 
the  meetings  were  proclaimed.  O'Connell  persisted  and 
was  prosecuted.  A  true  bill  was  found  against  him  ;  he 
argued  the  case  on  technical  grounds  with  the  ingenuity  of 
a  lawyer,  but  at  last  submitted  to  a  hostile  verdict,  no 
doubt  in  the  full  persuasion  that  it  would  lead  to  nothing, 
as  the  result  proved.  He  was  never  called  up  for  judgment, 
and  he  went  on  holding  his  meetings.  The  Chief  Secretary 
had  far  greater  difficulties  on  his  hands.  A  tithe  war  was 
raging  over  the  greater  part  of  Ireland.  The  peasantry 
refused  to  pay,  the  clergy  were  unable  to  enforce  payment, 
and  were  in  great  distress.  A  notable  expedient  was  then 
adopted.  The  Government  advanced  to  the  clergy  some 
portion  of  the  tithe  by  way  of  relief,  and  undertook  to  collect 
the  tithes  themselves,  the  Lord-Lieutenant  becoming,  as 
O'Connell  said,  the  tithe  proctor  for  all  Ireland.  But  the 
Government  met  with  no  better  success  than  the  clergy, 
and  the  collection  of  the  impost  was  virtually  abandoned. 
Evictions  were  at  the  same  time  being  carried  out  on  a  large 
scale.  The  abolition  of  the  forty-shilling  freeholders  had 
deprived  the  small  holdings  of  their  political  value,  and 
landlords  were  throwing  them  together  into  larger  farms. 
The  evicted  tenants  had  no  alternative  but  to  bid  against 
each  other,  and  rack-rents  were  racked  still  higher.  There 
were  distress   and   confusion    everywhere,  but  a  reformed 


168  LORD   MELBOURNE 

Parliament  was  about  to  assemble,  and  all  eyes  turned  to 
it  wistfully  for  relief. 

Such  was  the  situation  of  affairs  at  the  beginning  of  1833, 
and  events  soon  moved  rapidly.  The  Speech  from  the 
Throne  foreshadowed  a  Coercion  Bill,  and  certain  measures 
for  the  reform  of  the  Irish  Church.  The  Coercion  Bill  was 
brought  into  the  House  of  Lords  by  Earl  Grey.  We  have 
only  to  draw  upon  our  recollections  of  ten  years  ago  to  learn 
the  case  he  made  out  and  the  remedies  he  proposed.  Only 
in  one  respect  did  the  measure  go  further  than  others  of 
more  recent  times.  It  provided  that  martial  law  should  be 
set  up  in  such  districts  as  the  Lord-Lieutenant  thought  fit 
to  proclaim.  The  Bill  passed  rapidly  through  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  was  sent  down  to  the  Commons,  where  it  was 
introduced  by  Lord  Althorp.  He  went  through  his  task 
perfunctorily.  It  was  obviously  one  from  which  he  recoiled. 
Lord  John  Russell,  in  his  '  Recollections,'  thus  describes  the 
scene  :  '  The  Liberal  majority  were  disappointed,  sullen, 
and  ready  to  break  out  into  mutiny  against  their  chief.  Mr. 
Stanley,  who  was  sitting  next  to  me,  greatly  annoyed  at  the 
aspect  of  the  House,  said  to  me,  '  I  meant  not  to  have 
spoken  till  to-morrow  night,  but  I  find  I  must  speak  to- 
night.' He  took  Lord  Althorp's  box  of  official  papers,  and 
went  up  to  a  room  where  he  could  look  over  them  quietly. 
After  the  debate  had  proceeded  two  or  three  hours  longer, 
with  no  change  of  temper  in  the  House,  Stanley  rose.' 
Then  follows  such  a  recital  of  thrilling  incidents  as  we  in 
later  times  have  been  too  familiar  with.  He  recalled  to  the 
recollection  of  the  House  that  O'Connell  had  spoken  of  them 
as  '  658  scoundrels.'  '  In  a  tempest  of  scorn  and  indignation 
he  excited  the  anger  of  the  men  so  designated  against  the 
author  of  the  calumny.    The  House  which  two  hours  before 


PREMIER  169 

seemed  about  to  yield  to  the  great  agitator  was  now  almost 
ready  to  tear  him  to  pieces.  In  the  midst  of  the  storm  which 
his  eloquence  had  raised,  Stanley  sat  down,  having  achieved 
one  of  the  greatest  triumphs  ever  won  by  the  powers  of 
oratory.' 

The  '  Rupert  of  Debate  '  had  won  the  victory.  The 
Coercion  Bill  passed  as  a  matter  01  course,  and  we  shall 
presently  hear  of  it  again  linked  with  remarkable  conse- 
quences. The  Bill  for  the  reform  of  the  Irish  Church, 
brought  in  by  Lord  Althorp,  on  that  principle  of  equipoise 
between  coercion  and  concession  which  has  marked  most  of 
our  Irish  legislation,  raised  a  question  which  was  destined 
to  remain  unsettled  for  years  to  come,  and  to  produce  a 
ministerial  catastrophe  almost  at  the  outset.  It  provided 
for  the  abolition  often  out  of  the  twenty-two  Irish  bishopries, 
lor  the  extinction  of  Church  cess,  and  for  a  general  revision 
of  the  revenues  of  the  Church.  It  was  anticipated  that  a 
surplus  of  3,000,000/.  would  be  shown  over  and  above  the 
Church's  needs,  and  the  Bill  proposed  to  place  it  at  the 
disposal  of  Parliament  for  public  purposes.  This  is  the 
famous  Appropriation  clause  which  wrought  so  much  poli- 
tical havoc — then  and  afterwards.  It  was  in  the  Bill  as 
originally  introduced,  but  was  dropped  on  the  motion  of 
Mr.  Stanley,  and  ultimately  a  Commission  of  Inquiry  was 
appointed.  The  correspondence  published  in  Lord  John 
Russell's  '  Life '  shows  that  there  had  been  serious  dissen- 
sions in  the  Cabinet  the  previous  autumn  while  the  Bill  was 
in  preparation.  Althorp,  Lord  John,  and  Lord  Durham 
were  for  appropriating  a  large  portion  of  the  revenues  of  the 
Irish  Church  to  education.  Lord  John  even  went  so  far  as 
to  tender  his  resignation  ;  but  Earl  Grey  stoutly  resisted  the 
principle  of  secularising  Church   property,  and  he  gave  in, 


170  LORD   MELBOURNE 

swayed  partly  by  Lord  Althorp's  example,  and  partly  by  the 
advice  of  Lord  Holland,  whom  Earl  Grey  begged  him  to 
consult  before  coming  to  any  decision.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances, it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  the  clause  got 
into  the  Bill.  At  any  rate  it  was  soon  expunged,  and  the 
question  seemed  to  be  amicably  settled  on  the  basis  of  a 
working  compromise.  The  following  year,  1834,  a  Bill  was 
introduced  for  a  final  adjustment  of  the  tithes  in  Ireland, 
with  a  view  to  relieve  the  occupier  while  respecting  the 
interests  of  the  Church.  The  principle  of  secular  appro- 
priation was  not  directly  raised  by  the  Bill,  but  it  was  alive 
in  the  Cabinet,  where  opinions  were  found  to  be  irrecon- 
cilably opposed.  Still,  there  seemed  to  be  no  prospect  of 
an  immediate  outbreak.  Both  parties  were  anxious  to  wrork 
together  as  far  as  they  could,  and  it  was  understood  that 
they  could  all  give  an  honest  support  to  the  Bill.  But  Lord 
John  was  always  troubled  with  a  belligerent  sense  of  con- 
sistency, and  it  precipitated  an  explosion.  He  imagined 
that  Mr.  Stanley,  in  speaking  for  the  Bill,  had  let  fall  some 
expressions  signifying  his  determination  to  maintain  the 
Irish  Church  as  it  was,  and  he  felt  that  honesty  required 
him  to  give  similar  publicity  to  his  own  views.  He  did  so. 
He  said,  in  effect,  that  in  his  opinion  the  revenues  of  the 
Irish  Church  were  larger  than  necessary  for  the  religious 
and  moral  instruction  of  the  persons  belonging  to  that 
Church,  and  that  if  the  question  arose  in  a  practical  shape, 
he  should  be  prepared  to  act  upon  that  opinion,  even 
though  it  should  exact  from  him  the  sacrifice  of  parting 
with  his  friends.  The  declaration  was  received  with  im- 
mense cheering.  Stanley  pencilled  a  few  words  to  Sir  James 
Graham,  '  Johnny  has  upset  the  coach.'  There  was  some 
trouble  at  the  next  Cabinet  meeting.     The  final  push  which 


PREMIER  171 

sent  the  vehicle  clean  over  was  given  by  Mr.  Ward,  the 
member  for  St.  Alban's,  who  embodied  in  a  motion  sharp 
and  precise  the  principle  which  Lord  John  had  dealt  with 
in  general  terms.  The  debate  on  this  motion  had  not 
proceeded  far  when  Lord  Althorp  stated  that  he  had  just 
received  information  which  induced  him  to  beg  that  it  might 
be  adjourned  till  the  following  Monday.  When  Monday 
came  it  was  announced  that  Earl  Ripon,  Mr.  Stanley,  Sir 
James  Graham,  and  the  Duke  of  Richmond  had  left  the 
Government. 

This  was  the  first  rent  in  the  Whig  administration  ;  it 
was  soon  followed  by  a  more  serious  one.  The  Coercion 
Act  of  the  year  before  would  soon  lapse,  and  its  renewal  was 
thought  necessary.  It  has  already  been  said  that  the  most 
offensive  feature  in  the  restrictive  policy  of  the  Government 
was  the  power  given  to  the  Lord- Lieutenant  to  forbid  by 
proclamation  the  holding  of  public  meetings.  It  was  this 
that  led  to  the  prosecution  of  O'Connell.  He  had  persisted, 
and  for  some  time  there  was  no  further  interference.  The 
Coercion  Act  of  the  previous  year  had  given  the  Lord- 
Lieutenant  power  to  proclaim  meetings,  and  the  question 
had  arisen  in  some  quarters  whether  it  was  necessary  to 
renew  this  power  in  the  new  Act.  It  is  a  tangled  misunder- 
standing, but  it  can  easily  be  made  clear  if  one  or  two 
points  are  kept  in  view,  and  it  is  surely  worth  even  now  as 
much  attention  as  is  given  to  an  ordinary  police  case.  Lord 
Wellesley  was  now  Lord-Lieutenant,  and  his  son-in-law, 
Mr.  Littleton,  Chief  Secretary.  In  his  official  correspondence 
with  Earl  Grey,  Lord  ^Vellesley  had  expressed  his  conviction 
that  it  would  be  necessary  to  renew  the  Coercion  Act  as  it 
stood,  with  the  exception  of  the  court-martial  clauses.  He 
had  done  so  as  lately  as  June  11 ;  but  on  the  21st  he  wrote 


1/2  LORD   MELBOURNE 

in  saj  that  he  thought  the  clauses  relating  to  public  meetings 
might  be  dispensed  with.  The  sudden  change  awoke  sus- 
picions in  Earl  Grey's  mind.  This  last  letter  seemed  to 
betoken  some  private  correspondence  of  which  he  was 
unaware,  as  indeed  it  did.  The  confusion  began  with  Lord 
Brougham,  who  wrote  to  Littleton  suggesting  that  he  should 
use  his  influence  with  Lord  Wellesley  to  induce  him  to  drop 
his  demand  for  a  renewal  of  the  public  meeting  clauses. 
He  did  so  ;  Lord  Wellesley  yielded,  and  the  letter  of  the 
21st  to  Earl  Grey  was  the  result. 

Littleton  told  Althorp  of  this  letter,  and  Althorp  agreed 
with  him  that  in  the  face  of  such  a  declaration  from 
the  Lord-Lieutenant  it  would  be  unconstitutional  to  ask 
Parliament  to  renew  the  clauses.  Anxious  to  propitiate 
O'Connell,  Littleton  asked  Althorp  whether  he  might  not 
tell  him  privately,  and  as  in  confidence,  that  the  precise 
form  and  extent  of  the  new  Coercion  Bill  were  not  decided 
upon,  and  Althorp  said  that  he  saw  no  harm  in  his  doing 
this,  if  he  went  no  further.  But  Littleton  went  further.  He 
gave  O'Connell  to  understand  that  neither  Althorp  nor  him- 
self approved  of  the  clauses  in  question,  and  that  they  would 
find  no  place  in  the  Bill.  So  far  no  harm  was  done.  But 
harm  was  done  in  the  Cabinet.  Earl  Grey  was  affronted 
at  the  discovery  of  what  had  been  going  on  without  his 
knowledge.  He  insisted  upon  holding  Lord  Wellesley  to 
his  first  view.  He  obtained  from  him  another  letter 
virtually  recalling  that  of  the  21st.  He  had  even  talked 
over  Lord  Brougham,  the  author  of  the  whole  proceeding. 
Lord  Althorp  was  naturally  indignant.  He  divided  the 
Cabinet  upon  the  clauses,  but  failed.  On  going  home  he 
wrote  to  Earl  Grey  declaring  that  he  would  be  unable 
to  move   those  clauses    in   the   House  of  Commons,  and 


PREMIER  173 

tendering  his  resignation,  in  the  hope  apparently  that  this 
might  have  more  weight  than  his  arguments.  But  it  had 
no  such  effect.  Earl  Grey  refused  to  budge  an  inch,  and 
on  being  assured  that  his  resignation  would  upset  the 
Government,  Althorp  reluctantly  yielded.  Accordingly  the 
Bill  was  introduced  by  Earl  Grey  in  its  original  form,  and 
the  next  day  O'Connell  exploded.  He  told  the  House  of 
Commons  all  that  Littleton  had  told  him,  and  taxed  Lord 
Althorp  with  insincerity.  Lord  Althorp  could  hesitate  no 
longer.  '  The  pig's  killed,'  he  whispered  to  Lord  John 
Russell,  who  sat  beside  him,  and  forthwith  resigned.  Earl 
Grey  sent  Lord  Althorp's  letter  of  resignation  to  the  King, 
and  sent  his  own  along  with  it. 

Such  was  the  premature  and  ignominious  collapse  of  the 
administration  which  carried  the  Reform  Bill.  It  was  an 
act  of  suicide.  The  really  irreconcilable  elements  had  been 
purged  away  a  few  months  before.  The  administration  was 
now  fairly  homogeneous,  and  might  well  have  gone  on,  but  for 
personal  susceptibilities  which  were  out  of  place  in  a  great 
statesman.  If  Earl  Grey  had  but  accepted  the  assurance  of 
the  Lord-Lieutenant  that  the  public-meeting  clauses  of  the 
Coercion  Act  were  no  longer  necessary,  careless  as  to  the 
way  in  which  this  conclusion  had  been  reached,  and  too 
careful  of  the  public  service  to  be  childishly  jealous  of  his 
authority,  the  harmony  of  the  Cabinet  need  never  have  been 
for  a  moment  disturbed.  The  Bill  would  have  been  im- 
proved, O'Connell  would  have  been  conciliated  by  a  proof  of 
confidence  and  a  sign  of  leniency,  due  deference  would  have 
been  shown  to  the  more  liberal  section  of  the  Cabinet,  and 
the  next  ten  years  might  have  had  a  nobler  history.  It  was 
a  great  default  of  public  duty,  but  the  deed  was  done.  A 
Cabinet,'  says  Lord  John  Russell,  '  was  summoned  for  the 


174  LORD   MELBOURNE 

following  evening.  Meeting  Lord  Melbourne  in  the  Park 
he  said,  "  I  believe  we  are  summoned  to-night  to  consider 
a  decision  already  made."  At  the  meeting  of  the  Cabinet 
in  the  evening,  Lord  Grey  placed  before  us  the  letters  con- 
taining his  own  resignation  and  that  of  Lord  Althorp,  which 
he  had  sent  early  in  the  morning  to  the  King.  He  likewise 
laid  before  us  the  King's  gracious  acceptance  of  his  resigna- 
tion, and  he  gave  to  Lord  Melbourne  a  sealed  letter  from 
his  Majesty.  Lord  Melbourne,  upon  opening  the  letter, 
found  in  it  an  invitation  to  him  to  undertake  the  formation 
of  a  Government.  Seeing  that  nothing  was  to  be  done  that 
night,  I  left  the  Cabinet  and  went  to  the  opera.' 

The  King's  selection  of  Melbourne  was  a  surprise  to 
most  people,  and  probably  to  none  more  so  than  to 
Melbourne  himself.  He  may  well  have  been  dazed  for  a 
moment  by  surveying  the  giddy  height  which  he  was  invited 
to  ascend.  He  knew  that  the  task  involved  infinite  trouble, 
and  he  did  not  like  trouble,  but  neither  did  he  shrink  from 
it.  There  is  nothing  like  the  energy  of  which  a  strong  but 
inert  nature  is  capable  when  roused  to  exertion,  as  Melbourne 
himself  had  shown  more  than  once,  and  was  to  show  again. 
What  is  certain  is  that  he  at  once  developed  some  of  the 
qualities  required  by  his  position.  More  dignified  or  more 
constitutional  action  was  never  exhibited  by  any  minister 
than  Melbourne  displayed  in  his  negotiations  with  the 
King.  After  assuring  himself  that  none  of  his  colleagues 
who  might  seem  to  have  a  prior  claim  would  take  the  post, 
he  accepted  the  King's  invitation,  but  in  doing  so  he 
imposed  conditions.  The  King  wished  him  to  consult  with 
Wellington,  Peel,  and  Stanley,  and  endeavour  to  bring  about 
a  coalition.  This  was  the  King's  favourite  idea.  Melbourne 
told  his  Majesty  it  was   impossible.      But  he  acted  with 


PREMIER  175 

perfect  openness.  He  sent  to  the  persons  named  copies  of 
the  King's  communication  and  of  his  own  reply,  and  they 
agreed  with  him  that  the  thing  was  a  dream.  The  King  put 
to  him  a  series  of  questions  as  to  the  persons  he  would 
think  of  introducing  into  the  Government,  and  as  to  the 
policy  he  would  pursue.  Melbourne  assured  the  King  that 
he  had  no  intention  of  making  a  sudden  change  in  the 
character  of  the  administration,  but  he  declined  to  adopt 
'  a  principle  of  exclusion  '  as  impolitic  and  dangerous,  and 
reserved  to  himself  '  the  power  of  recommending  to  your 
Majesty  at  any  future  time  any  one  of  your  Majesty's 
subjects  who  is  qualified  by  law  to  fully  serve  your 
Majesty.'  The  King  had  set  forth  in  writing  his  full  assur- 
ance that  he  could  rely  upon  any  administration  presided 
over  by  Lord  Melbourne  'to  resist  further  encroachment 
upon  the  prerogative  of  the  Crown,  the  Church  Establish- 
ments in  England  and  Ireland,  and  upon  the  character,  the 
responsibility,  and  the  constitutional  share  in  the  Legislature 
of  the  aristocracy  of  the  country.'  To  some  of  the  points 
raised  by  the  King's  fussy  susceptibility  it  was  not  worth 
while  to  take  exception,  but  on  practical  questions  Melbourne 
left  no  room  for  misapprehension.  '  Your  Majesty  will  not,' 
he  said,  '  be  surprised  that  Viscount  Melbourne  should  be 
anxious  to  state  that  neither  he  nor  his  colleagues  can,  by 
acquiescing  in  the  above-mentioned  sentiments  and  expres- 
sions, be  considered  to  preclude  themselves  from  offering 
to  your  Majesty  such  measures  for  the  reformation  of  the 
hierarchy  in  England  and  Ireland  as  may  appear  to  be 
advisable.'  He  also  told  the  King  that  the  public  meeting 
clauses  in  the  Coercion  Bill  could  not  possibly  be  renewed. 
The  reservations  here  made  are  in  harmony  with  the  views 
expressed  in  Melbourne's  speech  in  the  House  of  Commons, 


176  lord  Melbourne 

on  the  dismissal  of  the  ministry  of  All  the  Talents  twenty- 
eight  years  before.  He  declined  to  bind  himself  by  pledges. 
He  held  himself  free  to  offer  any  advice  which  he  might 
deem  necessary.  He  entered  upon  the  Premiership  with 
unshackled  hands.  The  King  assented,  but  reluctantly,  and 
soon  began  to  turn  his  thoughts  elsewhere. 


177 


CHAPTER   X 

EGO    ET    REX    MEUS 

Difficulties  of  office — The  pranks  of  Lord  Brougham — Lord  Althorp 
goes  to  the  House  of  Lords — Melbourne's  letter  to  the  King — His 
interview  with  the  King  at  Brighton— Summarily  dismissed  and 
Sir  Robert  Peel  sent  for— Failure  of  an  unconstitutional  experiment 
—  Melbourne  avenged — Premier  again — How  he  manages  the  King 
— Lord  Brougham  disposed  of — Mrs.  Norton  ;  a  second  social  mis- 
adventure— Hostility  of  the  Lords— Lord  John's  'Finality' — 
Radical  discontent  — Death  of  the  King. 

Lord  Melbourne  entered  upon  his  new  duties  with  the 
hearty  assent  of  his  friends,  and  with  as  much  goodwill  as 
could  be  expected  on  the  part  of  his  opponents.     He  was 
not  credited  with  ambition.     He  had  never  been  involved 
in   eager  rivalries.     He   had  no  great   qualities   to  parade, 
and  he  knew  it.      He  gave  himself  no  airs  and  excited  no 
envy.     He  had  not  sought  the  honours  of  the  Premiership. 
He  had  simply  picked  up  the  prize  which  was  thrown  at 
his  feet,  as  any  other  man  would  have  done  in  the  same 
position.     Above  all,  he  was  known  to  be  amiable  and  con- 
ciliatory, and  there  were   some   perhaps  among  his  political 
associates  who  regarded  these  qualities  as  a  special  recom- 
mendation, since  they  might  be  made  to  throw  some  ad- 
vantages in  their  way. 

Among  these  associates  was  Lord  Brougham,  whom  the 
present  generation  remembers  as  a   wandering  star  of  vast 

N 


1/3  LORD   MELBOURNE 

magnitude  but  of  dimmed   lustre.     For   twenty  years   he 
had  played  a  great  part  in  the  public  life  of  England.     His 
abilities  were  unquestionable,  but  his  character  was  uncer- 
tain and  eccentric.     His  egotism  was  unbounded,  and  it  is 
doubtful  by  whom  he  was  most  dreaded,  by  his  enemies  or 
by  his  friends.     We  have  seen  that  at  one  time  he  taunted 
Melbourne    with    being    a    Canningite,  but  that    did    not 
prevent  him  from  offering  his  services    to  Canning   when 
Canning  became  minister.     He  wrote  Lord  Althorp  a  letter 
of  bitter  reproach  for  resigning  office,  and  thus  breaking  up 
the  administration  of  Earl  Grey,  though  it  was  he  who  set 
the  secret  machinery  going  which  forced  him  to  resign.     As 
the  keeper  of  the  King's  conscience,  he  naturally  thought 
that  his  proper  place  was  at  the  King's  side,  and  he  used 
the  artifices   of  political  terror  as   ecclesiastics  in  former 
days  used  those   of  religion.     But  the  King  had  a  ready 
means  of  relief.     He  had  only  to  seek  the  company  of  the 
Queen  and  his  children  and  the  spell  was  gone.     Improv- 
ing upon  the  choice  of  Lord  Bacon,  the  Chancellor  took  all 
politics  for  his  province,  and  was  as  ready  to  intermeddle 
in  the  business  of  his   colleagues  as   to  exercise  absolute 
authority  in  that  which  he  deemed  his  own.     He  privately 
boasted  that  it  was  he  who  had  made   Melbourne  Prime 
Minister,  and  he  acted  as  if  their  respective  parts  were  those 
of  master  and  man.     He  laid  important  Bills  on  the  table 
of  the  House,  one  of  them  involving  a  constitutional  change 
in  the  functions  of  the  House  of  Lords,  without  having  so 
much  as  mentioned  them  in  the  Cabinet.     Finally,  as  soon 
as  Parliament  was  up,  he  went  on  an  oratorical  tour  in 
Scotland,    taking  the  Great  Seal  with   him,  and  indulged 
in  a  series  of  extravagances  which  seemed  to  combine  the 
parts  of  a  mountebank  and  a  cheap-jack. 


EGO   ET   REX    IMEUS  179 

The  King  was  highly  incensed  when  he  learned  that  the 
symbol  of  royal  authority  was  travelling  post-chaise  through 
the  Highlands,  and  the  reports  which  reached  him  increased 
his  indignation.  A  tedious  correspondence  was  thrust 
upon  Melbourne,  who  had  to  soothe  the  royal  irritation  and 
make  himself  in  some  sense  responsible  for  proceedings 
which  filled  him  with  disgust.  To  dismiss  the  offender  was 
impossible,  and  equally  so  to  attempt  to  put  any  restraint 
upon  him.  It  would  have  been  like  trying  to  draw  out 
leviathan  with  a  hook.  Happily  he  had  more  sensible 
colleagues,  but  they  were  not  all  considerate.  Lord  Lans- 
downe  was  the  President  of  the  Council,  and  a  man  whom 
one  might  suppose  to  be  duly  impressed  with  a  sense  of 
ministerial  responsibility,  yet  we  find  him  at  this  critical 
moment,  when  the  new  administration  was  hardly  under 
way,  taking  offence  because  by  some  mischance  the  names 
of  two  persons  in  whom  he  was  interested  were  left  out  of 
the  Irish  Poor  Law  Commission,  and  tendering  his  resig- 
nation. Lord  Melbourne's  fund  of  good  nature,  which  sup- 
plied the  place  and  answered  some  of  the  ends  of  states- 
manship, was  soon  drawn  upon.  He  wrote  letters  of  ex- 
planation and  apology  to  Lord  Lansdowne's  disappointed 
friends,  consulted  Lord  Lansdowne  himself  over  the  next 
vacant  Garter,  and  the  offence  was  condoned. 

A  more  serious  embarrassment  was  the  prospect  of  losing 
Lord  Althorp's  services  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Earl 
Spencer  was  in  feeble  health,  and  his  death  a  contingency 
to  be  reckoned  with  before  long.  His  son  might  remain  a 
member  of  the  Government  when  transferred  to  the  House 
of  Lords,  but  that  would  be  no  equivalent  for  his  absence 
from  the  House  of  which  he  was  the  idolised  leader.  The 
attachment  felt   for   him  was   extraordinary.     This  is  the 

n  2 


I  So  LORD    MELBOURNE 

common  testimony  of  men  of  all  parties,  and  nothing  could 
be  more  creditable  both  to  him  and  to  the  House.     For  he 
was  not  a  man  of  shining   parts,  nor  even  of  great  ability. 
His  manners  were  awkward,  he  was  slow  of  utterance,  and 
had  no  easy  or  rapid  powers  of  apprehension.     But  he  was 
transparently  truthful,  honest  to   the  core,  the  very  soul  ot 
integrity  and  honour.     Character  was  his  one  sole  equip- 
ment, and  it  was  held  to  be  sufficient.     Melbourne  would 
not  have  consented  to  undertake  the  Government  if  Althorp, 
much  against  his  inclination,  had  not  allowed  himself  to  be 
prevailed  upon  to  remain  at  his  post.     By  tradition  a  Whig, 
all  his  instincts  were  liberal,  and  while  never  straying  far 
from  the  orthodox  centre  of  gravity,  he  commanded  the 
confidence  of  the  most  advanced  members  of  the  party. 
At  the  same  time  it   did   not  follow  that   his   loss  would  be 
absolutely  irreparable.     There  was  Lord  John  Russell.     He 
was  as  true  a  Whig  as  Althorp,  and  quite  as  advanced  in 
his  views,  while  in  political  knowledge  and  oratorical  talent 
he  was  his  superior.     He  had  been  the  first  to  take  in  hand 
the   disfranchisement   of  the   rotten   boroughs.      He   had 
carried  the  repeal  of  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts.     He 
had  been  entrusted  by  the  Government  with  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Reform  Bill,  and  had  acquitted  himself  brilli- 
antly, while  in  the  historical  associations  that  are  dear  to 
Liberalism  no  name  could  be  richer  than  his.     There  was 
but  one  thing  against  him  in  .  view  of  successorship  to  the 
post  which  might  soon  be  vacant.     The   opinions  he  had 
expressed  on  the  subject  of  the   Irish  Church  were  not  to 
the  taste  of  the  King. 

Earl  Spencer  died  on  November  10,  and  on  the  12th 
Melbourne  wrote  to  the  King  soliciting  an  audience.  One 
or  two  passages  of  his  letter  and  of  the  King's  reply  must 


EGO    ET    REX    MEUS  l8l 

be  quoted  textually.  '  Viscount  Melbourne  presents  his 
humble  duty  to  your  Majesty,  and  is  anxious  in  the  present 
emergency  to  wait  upon  your  Majesty  and  receive  your 
Majesty's  commands.  Your  Majesty  will  recollect  that  the 
Government  in  its  present  form  was  mainly  founded  upon 
the  personal  weight  and  influence  possessed  by  Earl 
Spencer  (Lord  Althorp)  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  upon 
the  arrangement  which  placed  in  his  hands  the  conduct  of 
the  business  of  the  Government  in  that  assembly.  That 
foundation  is  now  withdrawn  by  the  elevation  of  that 
nobleman  to  the  House  of  Peers,  and  in  the  new  and 
altered  circumstances  it  is  for  your  Majesty  to  consider 
whether  it  is  your  pleasure  to  authorise  Viscount  Melbourne 
to  make  such  fresh  arrangements  as  may  enable  your 
Majesty's  present  servants  to  continue  to  conduct  the  affairs 
of  the  country,  or  whether  your  Majesty  deems  it  advisable 
to  adopt  any  other  course.'  After  protesting  his  readiness 
to  place  his  services  at  the  King's  disposal  '  so  long  as  they 
can  be  given  honourably  and  conscientiously,  and  are 
deemed  worthy  of  acceptance,'  he  thus  concludes  :  '  But 
Viscount  Melbourne  earnestly  entreats  that  no  personal 
consideration  for  him  may  prevent  your  Majesty  from 
taking  any  measures  or  seeking  any  other  advice  which  your 
Majesty  may  think  more  likely  to  conduce  to  your  Majesty's 
service  and  the  advantage  of  the  country.'  The  messenger 
who  took  this  letter  to  Brighton  brought  back  the  King's 
reply.  After  assuring  Melbourne  of  his  high  esteem,  and 
of  the  regret  it  would  cause  him  to  lose  his  valuable  services, 
the  King  proceeds  :  '  His  Majesty,  however,  is  quite  sensible 
of  all  the  difficulties  which  have  arisen  from  Earl  Spencer's 
removal  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  he  is  not  blind  to 
those  which  may  be  anticipated  in  any  attempt  to   make 


1 82  LORD   MELBOURNE 

such    fresh    arrangements   as    shall    enable    his    Majesty's 
pre>ent  servants  to  continue  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the 
country.     He  is  quite  aware  that  the  Government  in  its 
present  form  was  mainly  founded  upon  the  personal  weight 
and  influence  possessed  by  Earl  Spencer  in  the  House  of 
Commons  ;  he  cannot  help  feeling  also  that  the'Government 
exists  by  the  support  of  that  branch  only  of  the  Legislature, 
and  therefore  that  the  loss  of  Viscount  Althorp's  services  in 
that  House  must  be  viewed  also  in  reference  to  that  con- 
tingency.'    The  letter  concludes  :   '  This  and  other  circum- 
stances  producing  embarrassment,  to  which  the  King  will 
not  further  allude  at  present,  render  the  whole  question  one 
of  the  most  serious  import,  and  one  in  which  friendly  and 
disinterested    advice    becomes    most    important,   and    his 
Majesty  will  therefore  most  readily  avail  himself  of  Viscount 
Melbourne's  proposal  that  he  should  have  with  him  a  full 
and  unreserved  communication  upon  the  present  state  of 
public  affairs,  and  will  receive  him  at  any  time  at  which  he 
may  present  himself  here  to-morrow.' 

These  passages  give  all  that  is  essential  in  the  history  of 
an  event  which  holds  a  conspicuous  place  in  our  constitu- 
tional annals.  They  fix  the  character  of  the  interview,  and 
distinctly  foreshadow  its  result.  Melbourne  drove  down  to 
Brighton  the  next  day  and  had  a  long  conversation  with  the 
King.  We  have  the  King's  own  account  of  it  in  a  memoir 
which  was  communicated  to  Baron  Stockmar  and  is  pub- 
lished in  his  '  Life.'  The  conversation  was  '  free,  unreserved, 
and  dispassionate.'  Lord  Melbourne  suggested  that  Lord 
John  Russell  should  succeed  Lord  Althorp  as  leader.  The 
King  objected  strongly  to  Lord  John  Russell,  declaring 
that  he  had  neither  the  abilities  nor  the  influence  which 
would  qualify  him  for  the  task,  and  that  '  he  would  make  a 


EGO   ET   REX   MEUS  1 83 

wretched  figure  when  opposed  by  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  Mr. 
Stanley.'  Nothing  was  concluded  that  night.  Melbourne 
slept  at  the  Pavilion,  and  the  next  morning  the  King  put 
into  his  hands  a  letter  in  which  he  stated  his  opinion  that 
by  the  removal  of  Lord  Althorp  to  the  House  of  Peers  the 
weight  and  consideration  of  the  Government  were  so  much 
diminished  in  the  House  of  Commons  and  in  the  country 
at  large  as  to  render  it  impossible  that  they  should  continue 
at  the  head  of  public  affairs.  The  letter  ended  thus  :  '  His 
Majesty,  therefore,  under  this  view,  and  the  apprehension 
of  contingencies  which  the  King  has  expressed  to  Lord 
Melbourne  verbally,  does  not  think  it  would  be  acting  fairly 
or  honourably  by  his  lordship  to  call  upon  the  Viscount  for 
the  continuance  of  his  services  in  a  position  of  which  the 
tenure  appears  to  the  King  to  be  so  precarious.'  A  con- 
versation followed  in  which  Melbourne  ventured  to  offer 
some  remonstrance  on  constitutional  grounds,  but  the  King 
waived  it  impatiently.  He  offered  Melbourne  an  Earldom 
and  the  Garter,  which  were  curtly  declined.  Begging  to 
know  whether  he  had  any  further  commands,  and  to  whom 
he  should  resign  his  trust,  the  King  told  him  that  he  was 
sending  for  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  The  letter  to  the 
Duke  was  already  prepared,  and  at  the  request  of  one  of 
the  officials  Melbourne  undertook  to  see  it  delivered  in 
London. 

The  next  morning  the  country  had  a  great  surprise. 
After  twelve  o'clock,  and  just  as  he  was  going  to  bed, 
Melbourne  had  a  call  from  Lord  Brougham.  Under  the 
seal  of  absolute  secrecy,  Melbourne  told  him  what  had 
happened.  Brougham  kept  his  word  in  his  own  way.  He 
went  straight  to  the  Times  office  and  gave  the  information. 
The  announcement  of  the  dismissal  of  the  ministry  appeared 


I  84  LORD   MELBOURNE 

in  the  issue  which  was  then  preparing  for  the  press,  with 
the  addition  made  on  the  same  veracious  authority  :  '  The 
Queen  has  done  it  all.'  Melbourne  had  a  delicate  task  with 
his  colleagues.  He  had  some  documentary  evidence  to 
show,  and  it  told,  as  we  have  seen,  its  own  tale.  Writing 
to  Lord  John  Russell,  Althorp  said  :  'This  is  the  greatest 
piece  of  folly  ever  committed.'  He  did  not  say  by  whom. 
In  the  memoir  already  referred  to,  the  King  says  he 
fully  believed  that  Melbourne  meant  to  resign,  and  it  must 
be  admitted  that  his  letter  to  the  King  suggests  if  it  does  not 
convey  this  interpretation.  Melbourne  put  himself  into  the 
King's  hands.  Instead  of  going  to  him  prepared  with  advice, 
which,  if  refused,  should  have  been  followed  by  his  resigna- 
tion, he  went  to  receive  his  commands,  suggesting  at  the 
same  time  reasons  for  his  own  dismissal.  The  King  did 
what  his  minister  invited  him  to  do,  and  if  there  was  any 
straining  of  constitutional  practice,  the  fault  was  certainly 
not  wholly  on  the  King's  side,  but  must  at  any  rate  be 
equally  divided.  Melbourne  was  safe  for  the  next  turn, 
should  it  come  soon,  but  his  conduct  on  this  critical  occasion 
was  never  forgotten  by  his  colleagues.  They  bore  it  with 
resignation,  and  perhaps  thought  that  the  result  on  the  whole 
might  be  for  the  best.  But  one  of  them  was  furious. 
Brougham  wrote  to  Althorp  :  '  What  you  and  I  thought, 
and  all  men  of  sound  minds  thought,  quite  impossible,  is 
come  to  pass,  and  because— and  only  because — you  are 
removed  from  the  House  of  Commons,  the  King  turns  its 
all  out  I — a  thing  never  before  done,  and  without  waiting  for 
the  House  of  Commons  to  express  its  distrust  in  Lord  John 
Russell  or  in  us.  ...  I  have  written  to  the  King  to  throw 
all  the  consequences  on  him  and  relieve  myself.'  It  was  a 
burden  which  the  King  very  willingly  assumed. 


EGO   ET   REX   MEUS  1 85 

Melbourne's  failure  must  be  admitted,  and  it  requires  no 
heroic  explanation.  It  is  not  to  be  ascribed  to  his  '  easy 
temper.'  His  temper  was  not  easy,  but  rather  keen  and 
warm.  The  King  found  it  anything  but  easy  at  the  inter- 
view of  the  15th,  when  it  glowed  and  scorched.  Nor  is  it 
to  be  set  down  to  any  supposed  weakness  of  character.  A 
fair  test  of  the  strength  of  character  is  to  ascertain  how  much 
it  will  bear  before  giving  way.  Tried  by  this  test  Melbourne 
comes  out  well.  Earl  Grey  utterly  broke  down  under  one 
half  the  difficulties  and  cares  and  disappointments  against 
which  Melbourne  bore  up  for  six  years  with  unflinching 
fortitude.  It  would  come  perhaps  a  little  nearer  the  mark 
to  say  that  he  had  an  inbred  horror  of  conventionality.  He 
disliked  etiquette  and  formal  ceremonies  ;  he  was  not  always 
dreaming  of  his  dignity,  and  he  did  not  care  to  insist 
punctiliously  on  his  rights.  It  was  these  peculiarities  of 
which  his  friends  were  thinking  when  they  heard  to  their 
amazement  that  he  did  not  refuse  at  once  the  offer  of  the 
Irish  Viceroyalty  made  to  him  by  Earl  Grey.  It  was  these 
same  peculiarities  that  gave  such  a  novel  air  to  his  mode  of 
receiving  deputations  at  the  Home  Office.  It  was  his 
habit  to  set  aside  formalities  as  so  much  very  emphatic 
'  nonsense  '  ;  he  preferred  to  '  talk  over  '  matters  in  an  easy 
conversational  fashion,  that  being  in  his  opinion  the  best 
way  for  coming  to  a  speedy  understanding.  Tin's  is  the 
style  in  which  he  approached  the  King  when  the  difficulties 
caused  by  the  removal  of  Lord  Althorp  to  the  House  of 
Lords  had  to  be  dealt  with.  He  knew  very  well  what  was 
fitting  and  right,  and  what  constitutional  practice  required, 
but  it  was  not  his  humour  to  act  with  formal  precision.  He 
went  to  Brighton  to  'talk  matters  over'  with  the  King.  He 
thus  placed  himself  at  the  King's  mercy,  and  when  the  note 


I  86  LORD   MELBOURNE 

of  the  15th  made  him  sensible  of  the  fault  he  had  committed, 
he  was  too  sensitive  and  too  proud  to  redeem  the  blunder. 
No  trap  was  set  for  him,  but  he  unwittingly  set  one  for  him- 
self. It  must  also  be  said  that  there  was  a  gentleman  on 
one  side,  and  a  king  who  was  not  exactly  a  gentleman  on 
the  other.  But  he  brought  away  with  him  a  lesson  which 
was  turned  to  good  account  in  their  further  relations.  It 
was  the  King's  first  and  last  victory  over  Melbourne. 

The  Duke  of  Wellington  advised  the  King  to  send 
for  Sir  Robert  Peel,  who  was  then  at  Rome,  consenting  to 
take  upon  himself  the  charge  of  the  Government  till  other 
arrangements  could  be  made.  It  was  the  middle  of  De- 
cember before  Sir  Robert  reached  London,  but  he  then 
lost  no  time.  He  accepted  the  King's  commands,  dissolved 
Parliament,  and  issued  an  appeal  to  the  nation  in  the  shape 
of  an  address  to  the  electors  of  Tamworth.  For  the  last 
four  years  he  had  been  anxiously  watching  the  signs  of  a 
reaction  which  had  to  some  extent  set  in,  and  doing  his 
best  to  promote  it,  but  it  had  not  yet  gone  quite  so  far  as 
he  imagined.  The  elections  broke  down  the  magnificent 
Liberal  majority  of  the  previous  Parliament,  but  there  was 
still  a  majority,  varying,  as  was  estimated,  from  twenty-five 
to  forty  votes.  At  Melbourne's  request,  made  with  the  full 
concurrence  of  his  colleagues,  Lord  John  Russell  undertook 
the  leadership  of  the  Opposition  in  the  new  House.  He 
told  Mr.  Abercromby,  the  candidate  for  the  Speakership, 
that  if  he  was  offered  the  command  of  the  Channel  Fleet  he 
would  accept  it.  He  afterwards  explained,  first  that  he  said 
this  in  a  joke,  which  may  be  readily  assumed,  and  next  that 
he  said  he  would  not  refuse  it  '  if  he  thought  it  his  duty  to 
accept,'  which  robs  the  saying  of  all  point,  since  no  person 
is  expected  to  decline  a  duty.     Posterity  will  adhere  with 


EGO   ET   REX   MEUS  1 87 

Sydney  Smith  to  the  original  version,  which  ought  to  be  the 
right  one  if  it  is  not.  In  truth,  the  task  he  consented  to 
undertake  was  hardly  less  arduous  to  him,  with  all  his  talents 
and  experience,  than  the  command  of  the  Channel  Fleet 
would  have  been  to  untried  hands.  The  Liberals  might 
count  perhaps  upon  a  majority  of  thirty,  but  that  was  taking 
them  altogether,  the  milk-and-water  Whigs  at  one  extreme, 
the  Radicals  at  the  other,  and  somewhere  between  them 
sixty  Irish  members  who  might  be  expected  to  act  with 
O'Connell.  How  to  marshal  these  discordant  forces  was  a 
problem  which  it  required  all  Lord  John  Russell's  courage 
and  skill  to  solve.  The  result  did  infinite  credit  to  his 
generalship,  and  established  his  reputation  on  a  lasting 
basis. 

He  wisely  concluded  that  he  could  not  bring  them  too 
soon  under  fire.  The  first  battle  was  over  the  Speakership, 
for  which  the  Liberals  put  forward  Mr.  Abercromby  in 
opposition  to  Sir  C.  Manners  Sutton,  who  had  held  that 
office  in  the  previous  Parliament.  It  was  won  by  ten  votes, 
but  it  was  fought  under  extremely  unfavourable  conditions, 
one  of  them  being  the  rival  pretensions  of  Mr.  Spring  Rice 
and  Mr.  Abercromby  as  Liberal  candidates  for  the  post. 
Nothing  can  be  more  dreary  or  more  repulsive  than  the  corre- 
spondence in  which  Melbourne  was  involved  on  this  subject 
when  so  many  graver  issues  were  at  stake.  The  next  trial 
of  strength  was  on  an  amendment  to  the  Address,  and  the 
result  was  worse.  The  amendment  was  carried  by  a  ma- 
jority of  only  seven  votes.  It  was  clear  that  the  contest 
to  be  successful  must  be  shifted  to  higher  ground.  The 
question  which  might  be  regarded  as  the  dividing  line  be- 
tween the  two  parties  was  the  Irish  Church,  and  more 
especially  the  appropriation  of  a  portion   of  its   revenues  to 


1 88  LORD   MELBOURNE 

public  purposes.  A  series  of  resolutions  on  this  subject 
were  carried  after  strenuous  debates  by  majorities  varying 
from  twenty-seven  to  thirty- three,  and  Sir  Robert  Peel 
threw  up  the  reins. 

It  was  now  Melbourne's  turn  once  more.  No  attempt 
was  made  to  displace  him  from  his  position  at  the  head  of 
the  party,  beyond  a  formal  appeal  to  Earl  Grey  to  take  the 
Treasury  or  the  Foreign  Office.  Melbourne  joined  in  it,  no 
doubt  with  entire  sincerity.  He  would  have  been  perfectly 
willing  to  take  office  under  his  former  chief.  But  the  appeal 
was  largely  a  sacrifice  to  decorum.  Lord  Palmerston  was 
one  who  signed  the  letter  to  Lord  Grey,  but  with  him  the 
offer  was  restricted  to  the  Treasury.  He  was  resolved  not 
to  take  any  part  in  the  administration  unless  he  was  rein- 
stated in  his  old  quarters  at  the  Foreign  Office.  The  King 
in  the  first  instance  sent  for  Earl  Grey,  who  advised  him  to 
send  for  Melbourne.  In  point  of  fact  he  was  the  indis- 
pensable man.  No  one  else  had  sympathies  broad  enough 
to  embrace  all  sections  of  the  party.  No  one  else  had  the 
tact  or  the  patience  that  would  be  required  to  adjust  the 
differences  that  were  sure  to  arise.  The  Whigs  of  course 
held  their  own  at  the  centre,  but  it  would  be  impossible  for 
the  Government  to  command  a  majority  in  the  House  of 
Commons  unless  a  policy  was  adopted  which  would  hold 
all  sections  together  in  a  working  alliance.  On  this  vital 
matter  Earl  Grey  was  hopelessly  impracticable.  He  had 
taken  fright  at  the  sending  of  invitations  to  the  Irish 
members  to  attend  a  general  meeting  of  the  party  at 
Lichfield  House.  '  There  is  one  point,'  he  wrote  to  Lord 
John  Russell,  '  on  which  my  opinion  and  resolution  can 
admit  of  no  change.  I  have  already  stated  to  you  and  to 
others,  that  nothing   could  induce  me  to  be  a  party  to  any- 


EGO    ET   REX   MEUS  1 89 

thing  like  concert  or  co-operation  with  O'Connell  and  the 
Radicals.'  This  is  enough  to  show  that  he  was  not  the 
man  for  the  emergency,  and  he  did  the  best  thing  it  was  in 
his  power  to  do  when  he  advised  the  King  to  send  for 
Melbourne. 

One  other  important  piece  of  business  had  to  be  disposed 
of  before  the  preparations  for  the  new  administration  could 
be  considered  complete.  It  had  to  be  explained  to  Lord 
Brougham  that  he  would  not  be  included.  On  this  point 
Melbourne  was  quite  resolved.  He  had  made  up  his  mind 
never  again  to  sit  with  the  ex-Chancellor  in  the  same  Cabinet. 
This  decision  appeared  to  some  of  his  colleagues  one  of  an 
almost  portentous  character.  There  was  a  general  concur- 
rence in  the  opinion  that  his  exclusion  was  desirable,  but 
merely  to  inform  him  of  the  fact  would  be  an  act  of  daring, 
and  it  needed  still  more  nerve  to  face  the  consequences  of 
his  terrible  wrath.  Melbourne  did  not  hesitate  a  moment. 
There  are  many  ways  of  getting  rid  of  an  undesirable 
colleague.  The  most  common  one  is  to  allege  some 
secondary  reason,  which  may  be  true  and  valid  so  far  as  it 
goes,  but  is  not  the  real  one.  Melbourne  told  Brougham 
the  exact  truth.  '  You  must  be  perfectly  aware,'  he  writes, 
'  that  your  character  and  conduct  have  since  November  last 
formed  the  principal  and  general  topic  of  debate  and  dis- 
cussion. ...  It  is  a  very  disagreeable  task  to  have  to  say 
to  a  statesman  that  his  character  is  injured  in  the  public 
estimation  ;  it  is  still  more  unpleasant  to  have  to  add  that 
you  consider  this  his  own  fault  ;  and  il  is  idle  to  expect  to 
be  able  to  convince  almost  any  man,  and  more  especially  a 
man  of  very  superior  abilities  and  of  unbounded  confidence 
in  those  abilities,  that  this  is  the  truth.  I  must,  however, 
state   plainly  that   your  conduct  was  one  of  the  principal 


190  LORD    MELBOURN I 

causes  of  the   dismissal  of  the  late  ministry,  and  that  it 

forms  the  most  popular  justification  of  that  step.  .  .  .  You 

are   generally   for   specific  charges—?//;/  lapsus,   quid  feci? 

Allow  me  to  observe  that  there  may  be  a  course  and  series 

of  very  objectionable  conduct,  there  may  be  a  succession  of 

acts  which  destroy  confidence,  and  add  offence  to  offence, 

and  yet  it  may  be   difficult   to   point   out   any  great   and 

marked  delinquency.    I  will  however  tell  you  fairly  that  in  my 

opinion  you  domineered  too  much,  you  interfered  too  much 

with  other  departments,  you  encroached  upon  the  province 

of  the  Prime  Minister  ;  you  worked,  as  I  believe,  with  the 

press,  in  a  manner  unbecoming  the  dignity  of  your  station, 

and  you  formed  political  views  of  your  own,  and  pursued 

them  by  means  which  were  unfair  towards  your  colleagues. 

...  I  have  written  this  with  great  pain.     I  owe  it  to  myself 

and  to  you,  to  truth  and  fair  dealing,  to  be  explicit.     I  can 

only  add  that,  whatever  may  be   your   determination,  no 

political  differences  will  make  any  change  in  the  friendship 

and  affection  which  I  have  always  felt  and  still  continue  to 

feel  for  you.' 

These  extracts  are  especially  valuable  for  the  light  they 
shed  upon  Melbourne's  character.  They  are  not  such  as 
a  weak  man  would  or  could  have  written.  If  there  is  one 
thing  more  than  another  which  weak  men  seek  to  avoid  it 
is  the  necessity  for  plain  speaking,  and  when  there  is  no 
avoiding  it  they  generally  go  into  a  passion  to  keep  up  their 
courage.  In  the  course  of  a  long  letter  Melbourne  does  not 
use  a  single  angry  word.  He  states  his  case  with  the  calm- 
ness of  a  judge,  but  with  a  merciless  severity  which  is 
absolutely  crushing.  We  seem  to  see  him  looking  straight 
into  his  opponent's  eyes  while  he  speaks.  He  makes  all 
fair  allowances  ;  he  takes  blame  to  himself  for  not  having 


EGO   ET   REX   MEUS  I91 

cautioned  him  in  due  time,  but  his  obvious  desire  to  be  just, 
and  the  effort  it  costs  him  to  speak  out  at  last,  only  increase 
the  weight  of  the  verdict.  His  style  reflects  the  temper  of 
his  mind.  It  is  measured  and  stately,  and  almost  solemn. 
Brougham  himself  felt  the  charge  to  be  unanswerable.  He 
never  recovered  from  the  blow  delivered  by  this  man  of 
'  easy  temper,'  whom  he  had  fondly  hoped  to  manage  and 
domineer  over  by  the  force  of  bluster.  Some  years  later, 
in  reply  to  one  of  his  philippics  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
-Melbourne  compressed  the  whole  case  into  one  short  and 
convincing  argument.  '  My  Lords,'  he  said,  '  your  lordships 
have  heard  the  powerful  speech  of  the  noble  and  learned 
lord,  one  of  the  most  powerful  ever  delivered  in  this  House, 
and  I  leave  your  lordships  to  consider  what  must  be  the 
strength  and  nature  of  the  objections  which  prevent  any 
Government  from  availing  themselves  of  the  services  of  such 
a  man.'  Having  done  his  duty  fearlessly,  Melbourne  yielded 
to  the  remonstrances  which  Brougham  was  neither  too  strong 
nor  too  proud  to  offer  by  postponing  the  appointment  of  a 
new  Chancellor.  For  the  present  the  Great  Seal  was  put 
into  commission,  and  though  nothing  could  abate  the  stern 
reality,  appearances  were  soothingly  saved. 

To  the  many  subjects  which  have  been  suggested  for 
historical  paintings  that  have  never  yet  found  an  artist  there 
would  be  some  reason  for  adding  Lord  Melbourne's  inter- 
view with  King  William  on  being  summoned  a  second  time 
to  form  an  administration.  It  marked  the  close  of  a  short 
and  keen  constitutional  struggle,  in  which  the  Crown  had 
striven  to  resume  a  portion  of  its  disused  prerogative  and 
had  been  signally  worsted.  It  was  a  humiliation  to  have 
to  face  once  more  the  minister  whom  he  had  curtly  and 
arbitrarily  dismissed  a  few  months  previously.     The  King 


1 92  LORD   MELBOURNE 

did  all  he  could  to   avoid  the  unpleasant  alternative.      He 
first  had  recourse  to  Earl  Grey.     The  Earl  declined  office 
for  himself  and  advised  the  King  to  send,  not  for  Melbourne 
alone,  but  for  Melbourne  and  Lansdowne.    The  Earl  and  the 
King  in  present  circumstances  thought  very  much  alike.  The 
King  would  have  preferred  the  Duke  of  Wellington  to  every- 
body else,  but  since  this  was  a  dream  he  would  have  been  well 
content  with  Earl  Grey.     The  Earl  shared  the  King's  horror 
of  extreme  men,  and  probably  coupled  Lansdowne  with  Mel- 
bourne in  the  hope  that  the  pedantic  Whiggism  of  the  one 
would  act  as   some  check  upon   the   political  catholicity  of 
the  other.     The  King  tried  to  press  the  same  idea.     The 
plan  he  preferred  was  a  union  of  the  moderate  men  of  the 
two  great  parties.     It  has  always  been  a  favourite  device  of 
the  Crown,  which  by  this  means  sees  a  chance  of  holding 
the  position  of  managing  partner  in  the  national  concern. 
Again,  as  in  the  previous  year,  the  suggestion  was  summarily 
rejected,   and   Melbourne  was   then   required  to  undertake 
the  task  alone.     In   his   personal  interviews   the   King  was 
more  than  civil.     He  had  his  sailor  manners  at  hand  which 
served  very   well   as   a   disguise   tor   his  real  feelings.     But 
henceforth  it  was  war   between   him   and  his  ministers,  with 
only  such  variations  as  were  due   to   the  moods  and  whims 
of  a  capricious   temper.     The   necessary  negotiations  were 
carried    on    chiefly    by    correspondence.     Melbourne    took 
care  that  this  time  there  should  be  no  mistake.     In  a  very 
able  State  paper  he  explained  to  the  King  the  conditions  on 
which  he  consented  to  undertake  the  Premiership.     They 
included  some  control  over  the  household  appointments, 
power  to  create  peers  in  order  to  hold  in  check  the  domi- 
neering majority  in  the  Upper  House,  a  repudiation  of  the 
principle  of  exclusion  on  the  score  of  creed  or  of  politics  in 


EGO   ET   REX    MEUS  193 

the  filling  of  administrative  offices,  and,  above  everything 
else,  a  frank  acceptance  of  the  policy  of  the  new  Government 
on  the  Irish  Church.  On  this  last  point  the  King  hesi- 
tated. Like  his  father  and  his  brother,  he  pleaded  his  con- 
science, and  begged  that  it  might  be  submitted  to  the  fifteen 
judges  how  far  he  was  bound  by  his  coronation  oath.  Mel- 
bourne refused  to  admit  of  such  an  appeal,  and  at  last  the 
King  gave  in. 

The   special  note  of  the   new   administration   was   its 
liberal  policy  as  regards  Ireland.     The  legislative  measures 
it  had  in  view  with  respect  to  the  Irish  Church  and  the 
Irish  tithes  were  well  known,  but  the  character  of  its  ap- 
pointments and  the  spirit  in  which  the  Government  would 
be  conducted  were  even  more  important.      In  this  direc- 
tion the  chief  thing  wanted  was  to  give  loyal  effect  to  the 
Catholic  Emancipation  Act.     Melbourne  would  have  gladly 
given  the  Irish  Attorney-Generalship  to  O'Connell,  who  was 
ready  to  accept  it,  and  believed  that  it  would  be  offered  to 
him,  but  public  feeling  furnished  an  insuperable  obstacle. 
O  Connell  was  bitterly  disappointed,  but  he  took  no  offence. 
He  showed  a  wonderful  magnanimity,  as  Lord  John  Russell, 
one  of  his  severest  judges,  confesses.     Melbourne  did  what 
he  could.    The  highest  office  at  the  Irish  bar  was  given  to  Mr. 
Perrin,  a  Protestant  indeed,  but  one  whose  impartiality  was 
above  suspicion  ;  while  Mr.  O'Loghlen,  a  Catholic  and  one 
of  O'Connell's  closest  friends,  was  made  Solicitor-General, 
the  first  time  for  a  century  and  a  half  that  a  Catholic  had 
held  the  office.     A   change  for   the  better  was  begun  at 
Dublin  Castle,  by  the  removal  of  Sir  W.  Gosset  from  the 
post  of  Under-Secretary,  and  the  appointment  in  his  stead  of 
Mr.   Thomas   Drummond,  the  distinguished  man  who  ven- 
tured to  remind  the  landlords  of  Ireland  that  'property  has 

o 


194  LORD   MELBOURNE 

its  duties  as  well  as  its  rights.'  Orders  were  given  to  include 
Catholics  in  the  Sheriff  lists,  to  appoint  a  fair  proportion  of 
Catholic  solicitors  as  local  prosecutors  for  the  Crown,  and  to 
exclude  zealous  Orangemen  from  the  constabulary.  As  re- 
gards Orangemen,  more  energetic  measures  were  soon  deemed 
necessary.  They  had  long  been  in  the  ascendant  at  the 
Castle.  It  was  in  the  spirit  they  breathed  and  fostered  that 
the  government  of  Ireland  had  been  carried  on  ever  since 
the  Union.  They  were  beginning  to  infect  the  army.  It 
was  discovered  on  inquiry,  that  under  warrants  signed  by 
the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  the  King's  brother,  Orange  lodges 
had  been  established  in  thirty  or  forty  regiments.  It  was 
time  that  the  power  of  this  intolerant  and  insolent  faction 
should  be  broken,  and  Mr.  Hume  took  up  the  task.  He 
moved  an  address  to  the  Crown  praying  for  the  removal  of 
all  officials,  civil  or  military,  who  attended  the  meetings 
of  the  Orange  lodges,  or  of  any  other  political  club.  The 
Government  adopted  the  motion  in  a  slightly  amended  form. 
The  words  employed  were  perhaps  a  little  too  wide,  but 
their  meaning  was  well  understood,  and  the  form  adopted 
made  the  address  less  unpalatable  to  the  King.  These 
changes  in  the  administration  of  the  law  gave  immense 
satisfaction  in  Ireland.  They  presented  a  striking  contrast 
to  the  policy  hitherto  pursued.  During  his  own  short  Chief- 
Secretaryship  Melbourne  had  groaned  and  fumed  at  the 
restrictions  by  which  his  action  was  fettered,  and  he  viewed 
with  repugnance  and  regret  the  course  adopted  by  Mr. 
Stanley  under  the  Premiership  of  Earl  Grey.  At  both  those 
periods  he  was  practically  helpless.  Now  he  was  in  power 
with  colleagues  who  shared  his  sentiments,  and  Ireland  for 
the  first  time  since  the  Union  began  to  believe  in  a  reign 
of  justice. 


EGO   ET   REX    MEUS  1 95 

The  details  of  the  Melbourne  administration  are  beside 
our  aim.  They  belong  to  the  history  of  the  country,  and  a 
brief  reference  will  suffice.  The  short  session  of  1835  was 
turned  to  good  account.  The  Municipal  Corporations  Bill 
passed  after  a  struggle  with  the  Lords  which,  thanks  to  the 
firmness  of  the  Government,  left  its  most  important  features 
unchanged.  An  Irish  Bill  framed  on  the  same  lines  was 
thrown  out  by  the  Lords,  and  a  Bill  for  the  settlement  of 
the  Irish  tithe  question  was  so  mangled  by  them  that  it  had 
to  be  abandoned.  They  accepted  one  half,  but  rejected  the 
other,  the  rejected  half  relating  to  the  appropriation  of  the 
surplus  revenues  of  the  Church  to  public  purposes.  The 
next  session  was  crowded  with  important  work.  It  included 
the  commutation  of  tithe  in  England  and  Wales,  the  civil 
registration  of  births  and  deaths,  and  a  measure  enabling 
marriages  to  be  performed  elsewhere  than  in  the  churches 
of  the  Establishment.  A  series  of  Bills  was  also  introduced 
for  giving  effect  to  the  recommendations  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Commissioners,  one  providing  for  the  equalisation  of  epis- 
copal incomes  ;  another  for  applying  the  surplus  income 
of  capitular  establishments  to  the  general  purposes  of  the 
Church,  and  a  third  discouraging  pluralities.  The  first  was 
passed  at  once,  the  other  two  in  1838  and  1S39.  Justice 
has  hardly  been  done  to  these  measures.  They  were  framed 
and  carried  by  Lord  John  Russell,  and  his  biographer, 
Mr.  Spencer  Walpole,  in  referring  to  them  is  well  justified 
in  the  remark  that  '  Lord  John  might  fairly  claim  that  if  he 
had  done  more  to  satisfy  Dissent  than  any  statesman  since 
the  days  of  Nottingham,  he  had  done  more  to  strengthen 
the  Church  than  any  minister  since  the  days  of  Godolphin.' 
He  was  less  fortunate  with  his  Irish  measures.  The  Irish 
Municipal  Corporation  Bill  and  the  Tithe  Bill  were  again 

02 


196  LORD   MELBOURNE 

sent   up    to   the    Lords,    and    again    thrown   back   on   his 
hands. 

During  the  earlier  part  of  the  year,  Melbourne  was  bur- 
dened with  other  cares  in  addition  to  those  of  politics.  He 
was  involved  in  a  social  misadventure  which  caused  him 
much  distress  and  threatened  to  becloud  his  reputation. 
Unfortunately,  it  was  not  the  first  of  the  kind  which  had 
befallen  him.  Soon  after  his  return  from  Ireland,  in  1829, 
he  was  sued  in  an  action  for  damages  by  Lord  Brandon,  for 
undue  intimacy  with  Lady  Brandon,  whose  acquaintance  he 
had  made  in  Dublin.  Lord  Tenterden,  who  tried  the  case, 
held  that  there  was  no  evidence  to  go  to  the  jury,  and 
directed  a  non-suit.  Lord  Brandon  then  went  into  the 
Ecclesiastical  Court,  where  his  failure  was  even  more 
complete.  His  own  counsel  thought  fit  to  withdraw  the 
case.  In  his  second  misadventure  the  ordeal  was  more 
severe. 

The  present  generation  retains  some  recollection  of 
the  Hon.  Mrs.  Norton.  She  is  remembered  chiefly  for  the 
wrongs  which,  as  was  publicly  alleged,  she  suffered  from 
her  husband,  who,  availing  himself  of  the  unjust  law  then  in 
force  as  regards  the  property  of  married  women,  stepped  in 
between  her  and  her  publishers,  and  strove  to  intercept  the 
fruits  of  her  literary  toil.  All  the  world  heard  of  her  wrongs, 
and  pitied  her.  Perhaps  the  only  service  her  husband  ren- 
dered to  society  was  to  force  the  inequitable  state  of  the 
law  upon  public  attention,  and  pave  the  way  for  its  amend- 
ment. He  was  the  brother  and  heir-presumptive  to  Lord 
Grantley,  and  grandson  of  the  first  Lord  Grantley,  who,  as 
Sir  Fletcher  Norton,  was  for  many  years  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  As  the  grand-daughter  of  Richard 
Brinsley  Sheridan,  Mrs.  Norton  belonged  to  a  family  in 


EGO   ET   REX   MEUS  1 97 

which  genius  has  been  hereditary.     They  were  married  in 
1827,  they  moved  in  society,  their  income  was  not  more 
than  adequate  to  their  position,  and  Mrs.  Norton  betook 
herself  to  her  pen.     When   Melbourne  was  at  the  Home 
Office  it  probably  occurred  to  both  that  something  might  be 
looked  for  in  the  way  of  patronage.     He  knew  her  father 
and  her  grandfather,   and  he  had  places  at  his  disposal. 
Accordingly,   Mrs.   Norton  wrote  to  him  asking  for  some 
appointment  for  her  husband  for  which  he  might  be  deemed 
suitable.     If  the  terms  of  the  application  had  been  strictly 
construed,  it  might  perhaps  have  met  with  a  refusal,  but 
that  was  impossible.     Mr.  Norton  had  been  called  to  the 
bar,  and  though  he  had  held  but  few  briefs,  he  might  do 
very  well  for  a  magistrate.     Melbourne,  at  any  rate,  thought 
so,  and  appointed  him  to  a  vacancy  in  one  of  the  London 
police  courts.     He  met  with  his  due  reward.     Mr.  Norton 
was   lazy,   quarrelsome,    and   inefficient.      But  Melbourne 
found  a  strong  attraction  in  the  society  of  Mrs.  Norton.     It 
would  have  been  strange  if  he  had  not,  for  she  was  a  woman 
of  brilliant  gifts,  admired,  applauded,  and  caressed  by  all 
who  had  the  privilege  of  her  acquaintance.     Her  literary 
tastes  fell  in  with  his.     He  occasionally  met  people  at  her 
house  whom  it  was  interesting  to  know.     Among  others  he 
met  Mr.  Disraeli,  then  a  rising  star  in  the  fashionable  world, 
and  heard  from  him  with  puzzled  amazement  the  no  doubt 
humorous  avowal  that  he  wanted  to  be  Prime  Minister  of 
England.     It  is  no  wonder  that  he  found  some  solace  in 
such  a  home.     But  there  were  dangers  in  the  path  which  a 
man  of  his  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  with  previous  ex- 
perience to  warn  him,  might  have  foreseen.    Domestic  broils 
began  ;  husband  and  wife  quarrelled  ;  suspicion,  real  or  pre- 
tended, crept  in,   charges  at  first   general,   and   then  very 


I9S  LORD   MELBOURNE 

specific,  were  alleged,  till  at  last  Melbourne  was  made  de 
fendant  in  an  action  for  damages. 

It  would  be  unpardonable  to  rake  up  the  details  of  an 
obsolete  scandal.  From  what  has  been  said,  everything  of 
importance  can  be  inferred.  The  facts  speak  for  themselves, 
and  speak,  perhaps,  too  unfavourably  for  Melbourne.  Due 
allowance  being  made  for  all  the  circumstances,  the  conclu- 
sion at  first  suggested  may  be,  as  it  was  held  to  be,  altogether 
wrong.  The  letters  written  at  the  time  certainly  favour  that 
impression.  The  affair  naturally  caused  a  great  sensation. 
The  Prime  Minister  was  on  his  trial,  and  if  the  verdict  went 
against  him,  he  would  have  to  resign.  Melbourne  offered 
to  resign  at  once  ;  but  the  King  would  not  hear  of  it.  and 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  is  said  to  have  declared  that  he 
would  be  no  party  to  any  arrangements  which  such  a  step 
would  involve.  It  is  not,  perhaps,  from  them  that  one 
would  expect  a  deliverance  superheated  by  any  extreme 
sensitiveness  on  the  score  of  morals,  but  greater  confidence 
may  be  placed  in  the  decision  of  the  jury.  The  case  came 
on  for  trial  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  before  Mr.  Justice 
Tindal.  It  was  a  question  of  character  and  credibility  on 
the  part  of  the  witnesses.  Sir  John  Campbell,  the  Attorney- 
General,  led  for  the  defence,  and  after  a  brief  summing  up, 
the  jury  gave  a  verdict  of  acquittal  without  leaving  the  box. 
There  was  great  applause  in  Court  and  among  the  crowd 
outside,  and  it  probably  was  not  wholly  the  applause  of 
partisans.  Decent  people  of  all  classes  and  parties  must 
have  felt  it  a  relief  that  the  Prime  Minister  had  come  out  of 
the  ordeal  unscathed.  This  is  the  impression  conveyed  by 
Greville.  '  The  town,'  he  says,  '  has  been  full  of  Melbourne's 
trial ;  great  exultation  at  the  result  on  the  part  of  his  poli- 
tical adherents,  great  disappointment  on  that  of  the  mob  of 


EGO   ET   REX   MEUS  199 

low  Tories,  and  a  creditable  satisfaction  among  the  better 
sort  ;  it  was,  in  point  of  fact,  a  very  triumphant  acquittal.' 
'The  King,'  he  adds,  'behaved  very  civilly  about  it,  and 
expressed  his  satisfaction  at  the  result  in  terms  sufficiently 
flattering  to  Melbourne.' 

The  King  was  generally  civil  to  Melbourne.  He  prob- 
ably liked  him  better  than  any  of  his  other  ministers.  To 
some  of  them  he  took  great  pains  to  be  uncivil,  and  his 
hostility  to  the  Government,  as  a  whole,  could  hardly  brook 
concealment.  The  consequences  of  his  own  great  blunder 
in  dismissing  a  ministry  which  had  the  support  of  the  House 
of  Commons  were  always  rankling  in  his  mind.  He  had 
been  forced  to  take  them  back,  and  this  was  a  humiliation 
which  he  could  not  forgive.  It  made  him  irritable  and 
peevish,  and  he  took  his  revenge  in  all  manner  of  odd  ways. 
For  some  time  he  made  a  point  of  inviting  none  of  them  to 
dinner.  Then  he  would  relent,  at  least  for  a  moment,  and 
send  word  that  he  expected  those  who  attended  the  council 
to  dine  with  him  and  '  drink  two  bottles  of  wine  a  man.' 
He  was  on  the  watch  for  every  fancied  slight  to  his  prero- 
gative. One  day  Lord  Palmerston  was  the  offender  because 
he  took  steps  to  ascertain  whether  Lord  Durham  would  be 
acceptable  as  ambassador  at  the  Court  of  St.  Petersburg 
before  mentioning  his  name  to  the  King.  Another  day 
Lord  John  Russell  was  in  disgrace  because  he  introduced 
the  Irish  Corporation  Bill  into  the  House  of  Commons 
without  having  first  submitted  the  heads  of  the  measure  to 
his  Majesty.  Lord  Glenelg,  the  Colonial  Secretary,  was  a 
constant  butt  for  the  King's  ill-will  because  he  was  supposed 
to  be  in  favour  of  bestowing  some  measure  of  self-govern- 
ment upon  the  Canadians.  The  Bill  for  the  abolition  of 
church  rates  excited  his  apprehensions.     It  was  hostile  to 


200  LORD    .MELBOURNE 

the  interests  of  the  Church  and  called  for  serious  remon- 
strance. Whenever  he  was  annoyed  he  poured  forth  his 
complaints  to  Melbourne  ;  sometimes  through  his  private 
secretary,  sometimes  in  long  letters  of  his  own.  Melbourne 
showed  wonderful  patience  under  these  inflictions.  His 
method  was  always  the  same.  He  identified  himself  with 
his  colleagues,  assumed  entire  responsibility  for  what  had 
been  done,  and  gave  soothing  explanations  which  usually 
brought  back  a  friendly  reply.  An  angry  tirade  aimed  at 
Lord  Glenelg  at  a  meeting  of  the  council  demanded  firmer 
treatment.  In  a  memorandum  presented  to  him  on  behalf 
of  the  Cabinet,  Melbourne  told  the  King  some  plain  truths, 
and  the  rebuke  had  some  effect.  There  were  reasons  for 
treating  him  with  forbearance.  His  health  was  giving  way, 
and  he  was  not  always  master  of  himself.  His  conduct  at 
times  was  hardly  consonant  with  perfect  sanity,  and  he  rated 
some  of  the  members  of  his  own  family,  especially  the 
Duchess  of  Kent,  even  worse  than  he  did  his  ministers. 
Cood-nature  and  humanity  pleaded  for  large  allowance. 

Whatever  difficulties  Melbourne  and  his  colleagues  had 
with  the  King,  those  they  encountered  with  the  House  of 
I  ,ords  were  far  greater.  The  schism  between  that  assembly 
and  the  House  of  Commons,  which  has  lasted  till  our  days, 
began  with  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill,  and  it  was  more 
bitter  and  more  exasperating  under  the  Melbourne  adminis- 
tration than  it  has  ever  been  since.  At  the  instigation  of 
Lord  Lyndhurst,  the  Tory  peers,  who  were  in  an  over- 
whelming majority,  systematically  threw  out  the  Government 
Bills,  or  amended  them  in  a  way  which  was  equivalent  to 
rejection.  The  Irish  Corporation  Bill  and  the  Irish  Tithe 
Bill  were  thrown  out  session  after  session.  '  The  Lords 
have  been  bowling  down  Bills  like  ninepins,'  says  Greville, 


EGO   ET   REX   MEUS  201 

Lord  Howick  said  to  him  as  they  rode  in  the  Park  that  he 
supposed  the  Government  must  go  out  at  the  end  of  the 
session,  and  that  they  ought  to  go  out,  since  they  could  carry 
none  of  their  measures.  '  It  was  quite  impossible,'  he 
added,  '  that  things  could  go  on  upon  their  present  footing  ; 
the  country  would  not  stand  it,  and  the  Lords  must  look 
for  those  changes  which  their  own  conduct  rendered  indis- 
pensable.' Lord  John  Russell  proposed  to  Melbourne  that 
they  should  at  once  create  eight,  ten,  or  twelve  peers,  and 
that  the  ministry  should  be  prepared  to  advise  a  similar 
creation  '  whenever  it  was  provoked.'  The  object  of  the 
Tory  peers  was  to  discredit  the  Government  with  the 
country — and  to  some  extent  they  succeeded,  but  indirectly 
they  succeeded  still  more  effectually  in  alienating  from  the 
Government  their  Radical  supporters  by  forcing  upon  them 
ignominious  concessions  and  compromises.  They  agreed 
to  drop  the  Appropriation  clause,  thus  abandoning  the  very 
principle  on  which  they  had  taken  office.  They  staked  their 
existence  on  the  passing  of  the  Irish  Corporation  Bill,  which 
had  been  again  introduced.  It  was  again  rejected,  and  they 
still  went  on.  The  end  seemed  to  be  very  near  when  the 
Church  Rate  Abolition  Bill  escaped  defeat  in  the  House  of 
Commons  by  only  five  votes.  At  last,  after  many  humilia- 
tions, they  were  making  up  their  minds  to  resign,  when  the 
state  of  the  King's  health  gave  them  something  more  than 
an  excuse  for  postponing  that  step  a  little  longer,  and  they 
were  soon  able  to  count  upon  the  better  chances  which 
might  be  offered  by  a  new  reign, 


202  LORD    MELBOURNE 


CHAPTER  XI 

REGIUS     PROFESSOR 

The  Queen's  accession — Peculiarities  of  the  new  reign — A  youthful 
sovereign — Guidance  and  instruction  needed — Lord  Melbourne  un- 
dertakes the  task — How  he  discharged  it — His  devotion  and  self- 
denial — Melbourne  and  Baron  Stockmar — The  Coronation — The 
Court  and  the  Whigs — The  Bedchamber  squabble— Chivalry  and 
office — Melbourne's  Church  patronage — The  Deanery  of  Exeter — 
Arnold  and  Thirl  wall — At  Court  with  Robert  Owen. 

At  twenty  minutes  past  two  on  the  morning  of  June  20, 
1837,  the  King  died,  and  the  present  auspicious  reign  began. 
To  us  who  look  back  upon  that  eventful  day  from  a  distance 
of  more  than  fifty  years,  its  incidents  seem  tinged  with 
the  colours  of  romance.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
and  Lord  Conyngham,  travelling  from  Windsor,  reached 
Kensington  Palace,  where  the  Princess  Victoria  was  residing, 
about  five  o'clock,  and  desired  to  see  '  the  Queen.'  '  Pre- 
sently,' says  Mr.  Greville,  '  she  appeared,  wrapped  in  a 
dressing-gown,  and  with  slippers  on  her  naked  feet.'  In  a 
few  words  Lord  Conyngham  announced  his  errand.  No 
sooner  had  he  uttered  the  words  '  your  Majesty,'  than  she 
put  out  her  hand,  intimating  that  he  should  kiss  hands 
before  proceeding  further,  which,  dropping  on  one  knee,  he 
did,  and  then  told  the  particulars  of  the  King's  death.  The 
Archbishop  went  through  the  same  ceremony,  and  gave  the 
Queen  the  benefit  of  a  short  homily.     At  eleven  the  Queen 


REGIUS   PROFESSOR  203 

met  her  Privy  Council.  The  scene  has  often  been  depicted 
by  pen  and  pencil,  and  it  is  one  that  will  never  lose  its 
charm.  A  few  sentences  from  the  narrative  of  Mr.  Greville, 
who  looked  on  with  official  eyes,  will  enable  us  to  realise 
it  vividly.  '  When  the  Lords  were  assembled,  the  Lord 
President  informed  them  of  the  King's  death,  and  suggested 
that,  as  they  were  so  numerous,  a  few  of  them  should  repair 
to  the  presence  of  the  Queen  and  inform  her  of  the  event, 
and  that  their  lordships  were  assembled  in  consequence ;  and 
accordingly  the  two  royal  Dukes,  the  two  Archbishops,  the 
Chancellor,  and  Melbourne  went  with  him.  The  Queen 
received  them  in  the  adjoining  room  alone.  As  soon  as 
they  had  returned  the  proclamation  was  read  and  the  usual 
order  passed,  when  the  doors  were  thrown  open  and  the 
Queen  entered,  accompanied  by  her  two  uncles,  who  ad- 
vanced to  meet  her.  She  bowed  to  the  Lords,  took  her 
seat,  and  then  read  her  speech  in  a  clear,  distinct,  and 
audible  voice,  and  without  any  appearance  of  fear  or 
embarrassment.  She  was  quite  plainly  dressed,  and  in 
mourning.  After  she  had  read  her  speech  and  taken  and 
signed  the  oath  for  the  security  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
the  Privy  Councillors  were  sworn,  the  two  royal  Dukes  first 
by  themselves  ;  and  as  these  two  old  men,  her  uncles, 
knelt  before  her,  swearing  allegiance  and  kissing  her  hand, 
I  saw  her  blush  up  to  the  eyes,  as  if  she  felt  the  contrast 
between  their  civil  and  their  natural  relations,  and  this  was 
the  only  sign  of  emotion  which  she  evinced.  Her  manner 
to  them  was  very  graceful  and  engaging  ;  she  kissed  them 
both,  and  rose  from  her  chair  and  moved  towards  the  Duke 
of  Sussex,  who  was  furthest  from  her  and  too  infirm  to 
reach  her.  She  seemed  rather  bewildered  at  the  multitude 
of  men  who  were  sworn,  and  who  came  one  after  another 


204  LORD   MELBOURNE 

to  kiss  her  hand,  but  she  did  not  speak  to  anybody,  nor  did 
she  make  the  slightest  difference  in  her  manner,  or  show 
any  in  her  countenance  to  any  individual  of  any  rank,  sta- 
tion, or  party.  I  particularly  watched  her  when  Melbourne 
and  the  Ministers,  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  Peel 
approached  her.  She  went  through  the  whole  ceremony, 
occasionally  looking  at  Melbourne  for  instruction  when  she 
had  any  doubt  what  to  do,  which  hardly  ever  occurred,  with 
perfect  calmness  and  self-possession,  but  at  the  same  time 
with  a  graceful  modesty  and  propriety  particularly  interesting 
and  engaging.  When  the  business  was  done  she  retired  as 
she  had  entered,  and  I  could  see  that  nobody  was  in  the 
adjoining  room.' 

The  King's  death,  though  decorously  and  no  doubt 
sincerely  deplored  in  official  speeches,  was  a  fortunate  event 
for  the  Melbourne  administration.  It  gave  them  a  new 
lease  of  life.  There  was  an  end  to  the  hostility  on  the  part 
of  the  sovereign  which  had  been  encountered  throughout 
the  previous  reign,  and  had  at  last  become  almost  intolerable. 
Everything  was  smooth  at  court.  The  Queen  was  too  young 
to  have  imbibed  any  political  prejudices,  and  such  predilec- 
tions as  she  might  have  begun  to  form  were  naturally  in 
favour  of  her  present  advisers.  With  such  cheerful  prospects 
before  them,  they  had  fresh  reasons  for  desiring  to  remain 
in  office,  and,  what  was  perhaps  of  greater  importance,  they 
had  a  plausible  defence  for  showing  some  anxiety  to  remain. 
It  was  easy  and  even  graceful  to  say  that  they  thought  less 
of  themselves  than  of  the  duties  they  owed  to  their  youthful 
sovereign,  and  that  they  were  willing  to  incur  some  reproach 
rather  than  subject  her  to  the  inconvenience  of  a  change  of 
ministers  on  the  very  threshold  of  her  reign.  Similar  motives 
told  with  the  Opposition.     Eager  as  they  were  for  power, 


REGIUS  PROFESSOR  20$ 

and  full  as  was  their  persuasion  that  they  had  a  moral  right 
to  it,  they  could  not  but  feel  that  it  would  be  more  becoming 
to  postpone  their  claims.  There  ought  at  any  rate  to  be  no 
change  till  after  the  coronation.  Nevertheless,  the  elections 
were  fought  with  great  asperity.  The  Whigs,  and  even  the 
Radicals,  were  willing  to  make  all  the  capital  they  could  out 
of  the  new  reign.  The  people  were  congratulated  from  the 
hustings  on  the  defeat  of  Orange  plots,  which,  had  they 
succeeded,  might  have  plunged  the  country  into  civil  war 
and  placed  the  hated  Duke  of  Cumberland  on  the  throne. 
It  was  a  two-edged  sword  to  fight  with  :  one  better  suited, 
perhaps,  to  factious  than  to  patriotic  purposes,  and  the 
Tories,  in  seeking  to  return  blow  for  blow,  were  almost 
driven  into  disloyalty.  Nor  was  the  result  so  favourable  as 
ministers  had  allowed  themselves  to  expect.  Their  majority 
in  the  new  Parliament  was  not  increased,  and  their  hold  on 
power  had  not  ceased  to  be  precarious. 

For  us,  the  most  remarkable  feature  of  the  new  reign 
was  the  unique  position  in  which  it  placed  Lord  Melbourne. 
No  such  lot  as  his  had  ever  fallen  to  any  statesman  in  the 
whole  course  of  our  history.  The  Queen  was  but  eighteen 
when  she  ascended  the  throne.  She  was  just  old  enough 
to  escape  a  regency.  As  only  heiress-presumptive,  whose 
claims  might  at  any  moment  be  set  aside  by  the  birth  of  a 
direct  heir,  her  position  had  not  been  sufficiently  considered. 
It  was  a  subject  which  ministers  would  naturally  feel  some 
difficulty  in  pressing  upon  the  King,  even  if  he  could  have 
been  made  to  comprehend  the  importance  of  affording  to 
his  probable  successor  advantages  which  he  had  not  received 
himself.  The  education  of  our  future  Queen  was  left  in  the 
hands  of  her  mother,  the  Duchess  of  Kent,  with  the  Baroness 
Lehzen,  the  daughter  of  a  Hanoverian  clergyman,  as  her 


206  LORD   MELBOURNE 

chief  instructress.  More  adequate  provision  might  have 
been  made  if  the  Queen's  accession  had  been  deferred  a 
few  years,  but  any  such  arrangement  was  foreclosed  by 
events,  and,  if  some  advantages  were  thereby  forfeited,  it 
may  be  also  said  that  no  risks  were  run.  The  Queen  was 
spared  the  doubtful  lessons  in  kingcraft  which  were  im- 
pressed upon  the  youthful  mind  of  her  royal  grandfather 
under  the  influence  of  Lord  Bute.  It  was  perhaps  a  piece 
of  good  fortune  that  she  had  to  learn  her  duties  as  a  con- 
stitutional sovereign  from  the  responsible  ministers  of  the 
Crown,  and  it  was  equally  their  good  fortune  that  they  had 
such  promising  materials  to  work  upon — a  quick  sense  of 
duty,  an  unsophisticated  intelligence,  and  a  heart  without 
guile. 

There  had  been  four  Queens  regnant  in  England  before 
Victoria,  but  the  circumstances  of  none  of  them  at  the 
period  of  their  accession  to  the  throne  resembled  hers.  The 
two  Stuart  Queens  were  of  mature  years  and  married,  one  of 
them  to  the  greatest  statesman  of  his  time,  who  reigned  with 
equal  right,  and  in  whom  all  the  executive  functions  of  the 
crown  were  vested  by  Act  of  Parliament.  The  two  Tudors 
were  unmarried,  but  they  also  were  of  ripe  age,  and  well 
fitted  by  the  wonderful  vicissitudes  through  which  they  had 
passed  to  stand  alone.  Elizabeth  was  the  youngest  of  the 
four,  but  she  had  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  politics  and 
leading  personages  of  the  day,  and  experience  had  made 
her  a  statesman.  For  some  years  it  had  been  her  chief 
business  to  keep  her  head  on  her  shoulders.  She  had  been 
inside  the  Tower,  and  but  for  her  consummate  prudence  she 
would  have  been  taken  to  Tower  Hill.  In  these  respects 
Queen  Victoria  offered  a  striking  contrast  to  her  prede- 
cessors.    She  was  but  a  girl  in  years,  and  knew  nothing  of 


REGIUS   PROFESSOR  20/ 

politics  except  by  rumour.  She  had  been  kept,  perhaps, 
too  carefully  under  her  mother's  wings,  never  allowed  to 
sleep  except  in  the  same  room,  nor  to  see  any  person  unless 
her  mother  or  the  Baroness  Lehzen  were  present.  A 
nursery  would  have  afforded  more  freedom  and  a  wider 
range  of  observation,  and  the  transition  from  such  a  condi- 
tion of  artificial  pupilage  to  one  in  which  more  than  the 
independence  of  womanhood  and  the  dignity  and  respon- 
sibilities of  a  sovereign  were  acquired  at  once  was  a  change 
which  it  is  hard  to  realise.  Perhaps  no  woman  in  the  world's 
history  ever  experienced  such  a  change  before  ;  certainly 
none  could  have  passed  through  it  more  triumphantly. 

But  to  offer  a  chance  of  this  result  there  was  much  that 
needed  doing,  and  it  had  to  be  done  informally  and  in  the 
most  delicate  manner.  The  Queen  could  not  be  left  to 
grope  her  way  alone  through  the  difficulties  of  her  new 
position.  To  instruct  her  in  its  technical  duties  was  an 
easy  matter — a  month's  experience  would  suffice  for  that. 
But  it  was  desirable  that  she  should  understand  her  duties 
in  a  much  larger  sense  ;  that  she  should  learn  something 
of  the  history  and  principles  of  the  constitution,  that  she 
should  know  the  several  parts  assigned  to  the  Lords,  the 
Commons,  and  the  Crown,  and  the  practical,  as  distinct 
from  the  theoretic,  relations  in  which  they  stood  to  each 
other.  No  pedagogue  could  do  this.  A  professor  from  one 
of  the  Universities  might  have  taught  her  the  letter  of  the 
constitution  in  a  course  of  morning  lessons,  but  he  would 
probably  have  failed  to  convey  along  with  it  that  informing 
and  quickening  spirit  without  which  the  letter  profiteth 
nothing,  or  leads  to  mischief.  It  was  suggested  that  the 
Queen  should  be  furnished  with  a  private  secretary,  after 
the  example  of  her  uncles,  who  should  assist  her  in  routine 


203  LORD   MELBOURNE 

duties  and  offer  occasional  advice,  but  it  was  felt  that  any 
such    arrangement   would   be   inadequate,   and   for   many 
reasons  undesirable.     The  position  and  qualifications  of  the 
Prime  Minister  supplied  an  easier  solution  of  the  difficulty. 
Melbourne  had,  in  fact,  already  undertaken  the  task.     The 
Queen  naturally  looked  to  him   for   advice   not   only  on 
matters  of  State,  but  on  what  was  expected  from  her  in  dis- 
charging the  everyday  functions  of  royalty.     He  thus  slid 
by  degrees  into  an  office  without  a  name  which  combined 
in  itself  the  duties  of  private  secretary  and  tutor.     They 
were  distinct  from  those  which  belonged  to  him  as  the  head 
of  the  Government,  and  he  knew  how  to  keep  them  well 
apart.     The  disinterestedness,  the  self-negation,  the  absolute 
loyalty  with  which  he  acquitted  himself  in   this   delicate 
position  were  admitted  by  those  of  his  eminent  contempo- 
raries who  were  best  qualified  to  form  an  opinion.     It  is  a 
remarkable  tribute  to  his  character  that  his  political  rivals 
regarded  him  without  jealousy  or   an   atom  of  suspicion. 
There  were  some  mutterings  of  discontent  among  inferior 
men,  but  no  dissatisfaction  was  expressed  by  Wellington  or 
Peel.     They  knew  that  he  had  undertaken  a  difficult  but 
indispensable  task,  one  which  was  imposed  upon  him  by 
the  position  he  occupied,   and  of  which  they  themselves 
when  they  came  into  office  would  reap  the  benefit.     He  was 
a  Whig  no  doubt,  perhaps  he  was  something  less  ;  but  at 
any  rate  he  was  an  honest-hearted  Englishman,  in  no  merely 
conventional  sense  a  gentleman,  in  whose  perfect  honour 
no  one  hesitated  to  place  entire  reliance. 

Melbourne  had  not  the  field  all  to  himself.  The  King 
of  the  Belgians,  sympathising  with  the  loneliness  of  his 
niece,  to  whom  he  stood  almost  in  the  position  of  a  natural 
guardian,  and  feeling  the  need  of  supplying  her  with  trusty 


REGIUS   PROFESSOR  209 

counsel,  had  sent  over  his  confidential  agent,  Baron  Stock- 
mar,  to  act  as  his  personal  representative  with  the  Queen. 
The  King  was  too  wise  to  take  this  step  without  the  pre- 
vious knowledge  and  sanction  of  the  Queen's  ministers,  and 
they  could  hardly  refuse  their  assent.  Nevertheless,  the 
presence  of  a  foreigner  at  Court  in  the  quality  of  private 
adviser  to  the  Queen  could  not  be  quite  to  their  taste. 
Considering  our  insular  prejudices,  it  was  a  rather  hazardous 
experiment,  and  if  it  had  been  generally  known  there  might 
have  been  a  storm.  They  acted  with  great  discretion. 
They  raised  no  objection  to  Baron  Stockmar's  mission,  but 
they  took  care  to  establish  an  equipoise.  Melbourne  was 
the  necessary  complement  of  Stockmar,  and  he  proved 
more  than  the  complement.  The  Baron  was  of  course 
treated  with  deference,  and  he  no  doubt  found  ample  oppor- 
tunities for  the  display  of  that  oracular  wisdom  which  he 
took  to  be  his  special  gift,  but  with  a  girl  of  eighteen  he  stood 
no  chance  against  a  man  like  Melbourne.  The  Prime 
Minister  was  fifty-eight  years  of  age,  a  man  of  the  world 
and  at  the  same  time  the  soul  of  honour.  His  tempera- 
ment was  sympathetic,  he  had  a  passion  for  female  society, 
and  he  had  no  one  of  his  own  to  love.  He  was  devotedly 
attached  to  the  Queen.  He  regarded  her  with  almost 
parental  affection,  and  for  her  sake  accustomed  himself  to  a 
mode  of  life  which  in  other  circumstances  would  have  been 
felt  as  an  intolerable  '  bore.'  His  manner  to  the  Queen 
was  marked  by  the  most  respectful  deference.  Without  a 
trace  of  obsequiousness  his  demeanour  had  all  the  effect  of 
the  most  winning  and  graceful  flattery,  differing  from  it  only 
in  being  perfectly  sincere.  The  discipline  was  morally 
useful  to  him  in  many  ways.     It  obliged  him  to  prune  his 


210  LORD   MELBOURNE 

speech  of  all  needless  expletives.     In  the  Queen's  presence 
he  took  care  to  speak  only  the  Queen's  English. 

In  the  memoirs  of  Baron  Stockmar  we  find  some 
references  to  Melbourne  which  illustrate  the  footing  on 
which  they  stood  with  each  other.  The  Baron's  biographer 
explains  that  the  purely  personal  affairs  of  the  Queen  were 
under  the  care  of  the  Baroness  Lehzen,  and  that  in  regard 
to  affairs  of  State,  properly  speaking,  the  functions  of  a 
private  secretary  were  in  part  replaced  by  the  Premier,  Lord 
Melbourne,  '  who  gave  himself  up  in  a  far  greater  degree 
than  a  Premier  is  wont  to  do  to  personal  intercourse  with 
the  Queen,'  and  in  consequence  of  this  took  '  a  considerable 
share  in  the  discussion  of  her  non-political  affairs.'  There 
still  remained  a  gap,  it  is  further  said,  inasmuch  as  it  was 
not  everything  that  could  be  settled  in  the  way  of  direct 
intercourse  between  the  Queen  and  her  ministers,  especially 
between  the  Queen  and  the  Premier.  '  It  was  necessary  in 
such  cases  that  there  should  be  a  go-between,  especially  at 
first,  when  so  many  matters  wholly  new  and  unknown  to 
the  Queen  came  on  for  discussion.'  This  '  gap,'  we  are  told, 
was  for  fifteen  months  filled  in  by  Stockmar.  Whether  there 
was  any  such  '  gap,'  except  in  the  Baron's  imagination,  or 
whether  he  filled  it,  is  a  question  not  to  be  decided  by  his 
biographer.  Melbourne  lived  at  the  Castle.  He  was  in 
constant  attendance  upon  the  Queen.  At  his  farewell  inter- 
view with  her,  on  the  fall  of  his  ministry,  he  could  say  that 
for  the  previous  four  years  he  had  seen  her  every  day. 
Every  morning  after  breakfast  he  took  her  the  despatches  to 
read.  After  lunch  he  almost  invariably  rode  out  with  her, 
one  of  a  numerous  cavalcade,  but  taking  his  place  next  to 
her.  At  dinner  in  the  evening  he  was  always  present  when 
his  Parliamentary  duties  permitted,  and  his  seat  at  table  was 


REGIUS   PROFESSOR  211 

next  to  hers,  on  the  left.  It  was  a  permanent  arrangement. 
He  took  in  the  lady-in-waiting  in  order  that  he  might  sit 
next  the  Queen,  and  if  public  business  required  his  tem- 
porary absence  the  place  was  kept  vacant  for  him.  It  is  not 
easy  to  see  where  any  '  gap  '  could  exist  between  the  Queen 
and  Melbourne,  and  we  may  take  it  for  granted  that  there 
was  none.  Stockmar's  biographer  says  :  '  Lord  Melbourne 
was  strongly  devoted  to  the  Queen,  and  even  warmly 
attached  to  her  personally.  He  initiated  her  in  public 
affairs  in  the  most  easy  and  kindly  manner.  She,  on  the 
other  hand,  placed  in  him  an  almost  filial  confidence.' 

On  one  point,  we  are  told,  Stockmar  had  many  a  dispute 
with  Melbourne.  He  thought  he  found  in  him  too  great  an 
inclination  to  yield  to  party  interests,  not  because  Melbourne 
was  himself  a  partisan,  but  from  too  readily  complying  with 
the  wishes  of  his  supporters.  Hence,  '  in  the  momentary 
advantage  which  a  measure  might  bring  to  the  W higs  and 
the  minister,'  he  sometimes  overlooked  '  the  possible  lasting 
damage  which  it  might  inflict  upon  the  Queen  and  the 
Crown.'  The  criticism  merely  shows  that  Stockmar  did 
not  understand,  as  he  never  could  be  made  to  understand^ 
the  nature  of  Parliamentary  government  ;  while  the  sup- 
position that  the  Queen  and  the  Crown  were  dearer  to 
him  than  to  Melbourne  is  rather  grotesque.  Stockmar 
thought  that  Melbourne  failed  to  impress  '  upon  his  illustrious 
pupil  the  great  maxim  that  she  was  the  Queen  of  the  entire 
people,  and  that  it  was  her  duty  to  hold  herself  free  from 
the  bonds  of  any  party,'  instead  of  appearing  to  be  only  '  the 
Queen  of  the  Whigs.'  Stockmar  did  not  perceive  how  far 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  Crown  in  a  constitutional  system  to 
identify  itself  with  the  party  in  power,  which  is  held  to  re- 
present the  entire  people,  and  that  both  parties  have  the 

r  2 


212  LORD   MELBOURNE 

privilege  of  basking  in  turn  in  the  sunshine  of  the  Court. 
During  Stockmar's  fifteen  months'  residence  at  Windsor 
there  may  have  been  some  undue  '  neglect  of  the  Tories  in 
invitations  and  social  civilities,'  and  there  was  some  excuse 
for  it  in  the  unbroken  monopoly  they  had  enjoyed  during 
the  three  previous  reigns.  It  was  a  novelty  for  a  Whig  to 
find  himself  at  Windsor.  But  Melbourne  was  utterly  free 
from  the  vice  of  political  sectarianism,  and  as  soon  as 
political  circumstances  foreboded  a  change  he  honourably 
did  his  best  to  prepare  the  Queen  for  a  return  of  the  Tories 
to  power.  Stockmar's  presence  at  Windsor,  ensconced  in 
permanent  domicile,  was  some  inconvenience  to  Melbourne. 
It  exposed  him  to  misconstructions.  '  King  Leopold  and 
Stockmar,'  he  said  on  one  occasion,  '  are  very  good  and  in- 
telligent people,  but  I  dislike  very  much  to  hear  my  friends 
say  that  I  am  influenced  by  them.  We  know  it  is  not  true 
but  still  I  dislike  to  hear  it  said.'  To  Stockmar  he  was 
always  civil,  and  he  spoke  of  him  in  terms  of  appreciation 
which  he  knew  would  be  grateful  to  the  Queen.  Stockmar 
repaid  his  courtesy  by  giving  him  the  nickname  of  '  the 
Pococurante.' 

In  due  time  the  Queen  was  crowned.  Happily  we  have 
among  our  recent  memories  an  event  which  eclipses  the 
splendour  of  her  coronation.  It  if  lost  in  the  stately 
magnificence  of  her  jubilee,  and  in  the  sentiments  of  loyalty 
and  gratitude  and  chastened  pride  which  it  called  forth 
in  all  parts  of  the  land.  When  the  coronation  was  over 
politics  took  a  more  wilful  and  acrid  turn.  The  ministry 
were  weak.  They  had  chiefly  in  hand  the  remanets  of  Irish 
legislation.  '  It  seems  to  me  '  said  Lord  Holland,  '  that  we 
have  nothing  to  depend  upon  but  the  Queen  and  Paddy  ; ' 
and  this  was  about  the  truth.    Lord  John  Russell's  disinclina- 


REGIUS   PROFESSOR  5,1% 

tion  to  countenance  any  further  extension  of  Parliamentary 
Reform  gave  great  offence  to  his  more  advanced  adherents, 
and  they  were  not  unwilling  to  leave  him  occasionally  in  the 
lurch.  He  was  becoming  unpopular,  and  the  reputation  of 
the  Government  was  visibly  on  the  wane.  The  climax  was 
reached  when  Lord  John  published  a  letter  to  his  constituents 
setting  forth  the  reasons  which  made  it  impossible  for  him 
to  sanction  any  further  change.  '  In  introducing  the 
Reform  Act,'  he  wrote,  'the  organs  of  the  Government 
declared  in  the  name  of  that  Government  that  it  was  intended 
as  the  permanent  settlement  of  a  great  constitutional  ques- 
tion. If  after  these  declarations  any  member  of  Lord 
Grey's  Cabinet  were  to  propose  to  begin  the  whole  question 
anew,  the  obvious  remark  would  be,  "you  have  either  so 
egregiously  deceived  us  that  we  cannot  trust  to  your  public 
engagements,  or  you  have  so  blindly  deceived  yourself  that 
we  cannot  believe  in  the  solidity  of  your  new  scheme." ' 
That  such  a  man  should  have  considered  such  an  argument 
conclusive  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  change  that  has 
taken  place  in  the  point  of  view  from  which  politics  are 
regarded,  and  there  were  some  who  did  not  accept  it  as 
conclusive  then.  '  Sound  and  temperate,'  is  Mr.  Greville's 
comment,  '  will  be  a  bitter  pill  to  the  Radicals,  and  a  source 
of  vexation  to  his  own  people.'  It  went  through  three 
editions  in  a  couple  of  days,  but  retribution  was  not  long 
in  coming.  On  the  day  it  was  published  the  House  of 
Commons  went  into  committee  on  the  Jamaica  Bill.  The 
Jamaica  House  of  Assembly  was  in  the  hands  of  the  planters, 
and  its  policy  in  dealing  with  the  negroes  called  imperatively 
for  interference.  The  Government  proposal  was  that  the 
constitution  of  the  colony  should  be  suspended  for  five 
years.     They  expected  a  majority  of  twenty,  but  when  the 


214  LORD   MELBOURNE 

division  took  place  some  days  later  they  found  themselves 
with  a  majority  of  only  five,  and  at  once  determined  to 
resign.  Lord  Melbourne  and  Lord  John  Russell  com- 
municated their  decision  to  the  Queen.  It  is  stated  by 
Mr.  Greville,  on  the  authority,  as  Mr.  Walpole  supposes,  of 
Lord  Tavistock,  that  throughout  the  interview  the  Queen 
'  was  dissolved  in  tears.' 

This  incident  is  at  least  in  keeping  with  the  romantic 
but  very  unpolitical  episode  which  followed.  On  the  advice 
of  Melbourne  the  Queen  sent  for  the  Duke  of  Wellington, 
who  in  turn  advised  her  to  send  for  Sir  Robert  Peel.  Sir 
Robert  was  quite  prepared  to  form  an  administration,  but 
he  submitted  to  the  Queen  as  a  condition  that  there  should 
be  some  change  in  the  ladies  of  the  household.  The  Queen 
took  alarm.  It  was  enough  to  have  to  part  with  Melbourne, 
but  to  surrender  at  the  bidding  of  a  Prime  Minister  her 
female  associates  and  friends  and  to  accept  strangers  of  his 
dictating  was  more  than  she  could  bear,  and  she  referred 
the  question  to  her  advisers.  A  cabinet  council  was  called 
and  a  minute  drawn  up  embodying  their  opinion  :  '  The 
Queen,  having  considered  the  proposal  made  to  her 
yesterday  by  Sir  Robert  Peel  to  remove  the  ladies  of  her 
bedchamber,  cannot  consent  to  adopt  a  course  which  she 
conceives  to  be  contrary  to  usage,  and  which  is  repugnant 
to  her  feelings.'  The  communication  of  this  minute  to  Sir 
Robert  Peel  put  an  end  to  the  negotiations,  and  minis- 
ters resumed  office.  The  affair  cannot  be  considered  very 
creditable  to  either  party.  The  feelings  of  the  Queen  were 
natural  enough,  and  readily  command  sympathy,  but  men 
of  fifty  ought  to  have  been  able  to  take  a  calmer  view  of 
the  circumstances.  On  constitutional  grounds  the  question 
settles  itself.     A  Prime  Minister  is  free  to  stipulate  for  what- 


REGIUS   PROFESSOR  215 

ever  terms  he  thinks  necessary,  and  the  sovereign  must 
assent  to  them  or  dispense  with  his  services.  It  was  not  an 
unreasonable  condition  to  exact  that  while  the  Tories  took 
charge  of  the  Government  in  the  Queen's  name  the  ladies 
of  great  Whig  lords  should  not  stand  guard  over  the  royal 
closet.  It  is  wonderful  how  much  chivalry  the  Queen's 
ministers  displayed.  -Even  men  like  Earl  Grey  and  Earl 
Spencer  declared  that  it  was  their  duty  to  stand  by  the 
Queen.  A  misunderstanding  was  afterwards  alleged  which 
may  or  may  not  have  existed.  What  cannot  be  doubted  is 
that  it  was  necessary  to  come  to  some  arrangement,  and 
two  years  later  the  question  was  settled  in  the  sense  for 
which  Sir  Robert  Peel  contended. 

Probably  there  mingled  with  these  chivalrous  inspirations 
in  the  cause  of  their  royal  mistress  a  secret  indisposition, 
stronger  than  they  could  have  been  willing  to  confess  or 
were  perhaps  conscious  of,  to  abandon  the  sweets  of  office. 
So  far  as  material  advantages  were  concerned  it  may  be  con- 
fidently said  that  Melbourne  thought  more  of  others  than  of 
himself.  But  he  could  not  help  caring  for  others.  It  was 
a  genuine  pleasure  to  him  to  be  able  to  do  anybody  a  good 
turn,  and  if  he  could  be  of  any  service  to  his  friends  by  re- 
maining in  office,  that,  it  is  to  be  feared,  would  have  weighed 
with  him  as  a  sufficient  motive.  When  the  duty  of  resigna- 
tion was  forced  upon  him,  with  yet  some  room  for  choice, 
he  counted  up,  it  is  said,  two  hundred  people  who  would 
suffer  in  their  worldly  circumstances  if  he  took  that  step. 
He  thought  tenderly  of  those  who  liked  to  keep  a  brougham 
and  would  have  to  surrender  the  luxury  if  he  ceased  to  be 
Prime  Minister.  This  was  anything  but  heroic  on  his  part, 
but  it  was  typical  of  his  character,  which  was  kind  and 
genial,  deriving  some  colour  from  the  maxim  'live  and  let 


216  lord  Melbourne 

live,'  and  on  a  level  with  ordinary  human  nature.  He  was 
free  from  the  conceit  which  might  have  led  him  to  imagine 
that  his  retention  of  office  was  of  supreme  importance  to 
the  world,  and  he  would  probably  not  have  owned  to  him- 
self that  it  mattered  very  much  to  the  nation  whether  he  or 
Sir  Robert  Peel  was  at  the  head  of  affairs.  He  would  per- 
haps have  said  that  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  would 
stray  very  far  from  the  beaten  path  which  public  opinion 
had  marked  out,  and  that  which  of  them  it  should  be  might 
be  left  to  circumstances.  This  view  determined  the  character 
of  his  motives,  which  were  not  exalted,  though  they  were  not 
sordid,  and  were  more  disinterested  than  some  which  wear 
a  fairer  show.  He  was  no  doubt  reluctant  to  quit  Windsor. 
He  found  there  a  sphere  of  happiness  and  of  duty  which  no 
man  was  better  fitted  to  fill,  and  for  which  the  whole  of  his 
previous  life  had  been  a  preparation.  '  Month  after  month,' 
writes  Mr.  Greville,  '  he  remains  at  the  Castle,  submitting  to 
this  daily  routine  ;  of  all  men  he  appeared  to  be  the  last 
to  be  broken  in  to  the  trammels  of  a  Court,  and  never  was 
such  a  revolution  seen  in  any  one's  occupations  and  habits. 
Instead  of  indolently  sprawling  in  all  the  attitudes  of 
luxurious  ease,  he  is  always  sitting  bolt  upright ;  his  free  and 
easy  language  interlarded  with  "  damns  "  is  carefully  guarded 
and  regulated  with  the  strictest  propriety,  and  he  has 
exchanged  the  good  talk  of  Holland  House  for  the  trivial, 
laboured,  and  wearisome  inanities  of  the  Royal  circle.' 

As  the  chief  purveyor  of  patronage  in  Church  and  State 
he  had  more  embarrassing  duties  to  perform.  We  take 
some  illustrations  from  his  papers,  which  Mr.  Sanders  has 
edited  with  so  much  care  and  skill.  He  '  carefully  preserved 
all  applications  for  appointments  and  promotions,  and  his 
refusals  of  demands  which  he  thought   unworthy  of  con- 


REGIUS   PROFESSOR  2\"J 

sideration  were  couched  in  terms  of  crushing  severity. 
There  was  a  familiar   reply  of  his  to  an  earl  soliciting  a 

marquisate,  which  began,  "  My  dear ,  how  can  you  be 

such  a  d fool  ?  "     Of  another  seeker  of  honours  and 

rewards  he  asked,  "  Confound  it,  does  he  want  a  Garter  for 
his  other  leg  ?  "  To  a  colonial  governor  who  wished  to 
take  a  title  reminiscent  of  his  administration  he  wrote,  "  Is  it 
not  too   much  like  Scipio  Africanus  ?  "     He  was  perhaps 

especially  irreverent  in  the  case  of  bishops.    "  D it,"  he 

has  been  heard  to  say,  "another  bishop  dead."  He  thought 
bishops  died  on  purpose  to  plague  him,  and  he  is  reported 
to  have  said  that  he  never  knew  a  sleepless  night  except 
when  he  had  to  fill  up  some  episcopal  vacancy.  His  theo- 
logical reading  is  believed  to  have  been  extensive,  but  he 
began  it  rather  late  in  life,  probably  to  qualify  himself  for 
making  his  ecclesiastical  appointments.  The  following  is 
addressed  to  Lord  John  Russell,  whose  brother,  the  Rev. 
Lord  Wriothesley  Russell,  was  apparently  a  candidate  for  the 
Deanery  of  Exeter,  where  the  arch-foe  of  Liberalism,  Dr. 
Philpott,  was  bishop  :  "  I  believe  that  I  have  been  mis- 
informed after  all  about  the  Deanery  of  Exeter,  and  that  it 
is  in  the  gift  of  the  Crown.     There  is  much  application  for 

it,  and writes  in  the  greatest  anxiety,  saying  that  they 

want  a  man  of  the  firmest  character  and  the  greatest  abilities 
to  cope  with  that  devil  of  a  bishop,  who  inspires  more  terror 
than  ever  Satan  did.  If  it  is  in  the  gift  of  the  crown  Wrio 
shall  have  it,  and  I  wish  you  would  write  and  tell  him  so. 
I  think  his  aristocratic  name  and  title  will  be  of  advantage 
to  him  in  his  contest  with  the  Prince  of  Darkness,  of  whom, 
however,  it  must  be  said  that  he  is  a  gentleman." ' 

Some    years    previously    he    had    asked    Archbishop 
Whately  whether  Arnold  was  open  to  reasonable  objection 


2l8  LORD    MELBOURNE 

on  the  ground  of  heterodoxy  in  his  works.  The  Arch- 
bishop replied,  '  Certainly  not,'  but  thought  it  right  to  add 
that  the  '  imputation  of  heresy '  was  likely  to  be  kept  up 
and  urged  as  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Hampden,  and  on  very 
similar  grounds.  In  1840  Arnold's  name  came  up  again, 
and  Melbourne  writes  thus  to  the  Bishop  of  Norwich  :  '  I 
return  you  Arnold's  letters.  With  respect  to  the  immediate 
object,  the  Act  of  last  session  has  annexed  this  canonry  of 
Christchurch  which  has  just  fallen  vacant,  to  the  Margaret 
Professorship  of  Divinity.  I  have,  as  you  know,  a  high 
opinion  of  Arnold,  which  has  been  raised  still  higher  by  the 
affair  of  the  Wardenship  of  Manchester  (refused  by  Arnold), 
but  Dr.  Arnold  has  published  some  indiscreet  opinions.  I 
call  them  indiscreet  because  they  have,  as  it  appears  to  me, 
without  any  adequate  reason  or  object,  impaired  his  own 
utility,  and  these  opinions  would,  I  own,  render  me  un- 
willing to  name  him  for  a  professorship  of  divinity  or  any 
science  connected  with  divinity,  in  the  University  of 
Oxford.'  He  writes  to  the  same  bishop  on  another  sub- 
ject :  '  The  incumbent  of  Woodbridge  is  anxious  to  ex- 
change benefices  with  the  incumbent  of  Methwold,  both  in 
your  diocese.  Do  you  think  this  ought  to  be  done,  and 
would  the  arrangement  have  your  approbation  and  sanction  ? 
I  do  not  much  like  myself  this  chopping  and  changing  of 
livings.  A  clergyman  should  take  his  parish  as  a  husband 
does  his  wife,  for  better  or  worse,  and  not  be  seeking 
separation  on  any  small  disgust,  or  for  any  petty  reason, 
such  as  climate,  bad  neighbourhood,  quarrelling  with 
parishioners.  The  liberty  of  divorce  would  in  both  cases 
lead  to  dissolution  of  the  connection  for  any  and  every 
trifling  reason.' 

The  most  important  of  Melbourne's  episcopal  appoint- 


REGIUS   PROFESSOR  219 

ments  was  that  of  Dr.  Connop  Thirlwall  to  the  diocese  of 
St.  David's.  Thirlwall  had  long  laboured  under  a  suspicion 
of  heresy.  When  a  fellow  and  tutor  of  Trinity  he  had 
published  a  pamphlet  in  favour  of  admitting  Dissenters  to 
the  university,  and  the  censures  it  drew  upon  him  from 
Dr.  Wordsworth,  then  master  of  the  college,  led  him  to 
resign.  He  had  since  published  a  translation  of  Schleier- 
macher's  Gospel  of  St.  Luke,  and  joined  Julius  Hare  in 
translating  Niebuhr's  '  History  of  Rome.'  He  held  the 
college  living  of  Kirby  Lonsdale  when  Melbourne  searched 
him  out,  and  a  letter  asking  him  to  call  upon  the  Prime 
Minister  found  him  on  his  rambles  at  a  village  inn.  The 
story  of  the  interview  is  told  by  Mr.  Torrens  :  '  He  called 
at  South  Street,  as  he  had  been  asked  to  do,  and  on  finding 
that  the  minister  had  not  yet  risen  was  about  to  leave  his 
card,  when  he  was  told  that  directions  had  been  given  that 
he  was  to  be  shown  in  whenever  he  happened  to  come. 
Melbourne  was  in  bed,  surrounded  with  letters  and  news- 
papers. "  Very  glad  to  see  you  (he  began)  ;  sit  down,  sit 
down  ;  hope  you  are  come  to  say  you  accept.  I  only  wish 
you  to  understand  that  I  don't  intend,  if  I  know  it,  to  make 
a  heterodox  bishop — I  don't  like  heterodox  bishops.  As 
men  they  may  be  very  good  anywhere  else,  but  I  think  they 
have  no  business  on  the  Bench.  I  take  great  interest,"  he 
continued,  "  in  theological  questions,  and  I  have  read  a  good 
deal  of  those  old  fellows,  pointing  to  a  pile  of  folio  editions 
of  the  Fathers.  They  are  excellent  reading  and  very 
amusing ;  some  time  or  other  we  must  have  a  talk  about  them. 
I  sent  your  edition  of  Schleiermacher  to  Lambeth,  and 
asked  the  Primate  to  tell  me  candidly  what  he  thought  of 
it — and  look,  here  are  his  notes  on  the  margin,  pretty  copious, 
you  see.     He  does  not  concur  in  all  your  opinions,  but  he 


520  LORD   MELBOURNE 

says  there  is  nothing  heterodox  in  your  book?"     Thirlwall 
frankly  responded  to  the  appeal  thus  made  to  his  honour, 
Melbourne  was  satisfied,  the  appointment  was   confirmed, 
and  few  men  have  conferred  greater  dignity  on  the  Bench.' 
Heterodoxy,  if  not   of  too  strong  a  flavour,  might  at 
least   be  tolerated,  but   there   were   extremes  from  which 
public  opinion  recoiled,  and  Melbourne  was  held  to  have 
gone  to  the  furthest  limit,  and  some  leagues  beyond,  when 
he  presented  Robert  Owen  to  the  Queen.     Melbourne  had 
made  his  acquaintance  many  years  before.     We  have  seen 
him  at  the  Home  Office  in  connection  with  the  movement 
for  the  release  of  the  Dorsetshire  labourers.    His  educational 
experiments  at  New  Lanark  earned  for  him  a  reputation  for 
philanthropy  which  nothing  that  he  afterwards  said  or  did 
could  be  held  to  forfeit.     The  Duke  of  Kent,  the  Queen's 
father,  visited  him  at  New  Lanark,  and  afterwards  corre- 
sponded with  him  on  the  most  confidential  terms.    Owen  had 
since  imbibed  extreme  opinions,  and  had  made  himself  the 
scarecrow  of  the  religious  world.     He  had  his  schemes  for 
the  regeneration  of  society  which  he  propagated  with  the 
zeal  of  an  apostle.     They  were  wild  and  pernicious,  but  his 
motives  were  pure.     A  more  amiable  and  benevolent  man 
never  lived.     He  called  upon  Melbourne  with  a  petition 
which  he  desired  to  present   to  the  Queen,  and  asked  to 
be  presented   for   that   purpose  at  an   approaching   levee. 
Melbourne   consented.      When   the  occasion   came  Owen 
knelt  before  the  Queen,  attired  in  '  bag  wig  and  sword,'  the 
petition  was   handed  over   to  the  Secretary  of  State,  and 
probably  no  mortal  ever  read  a  word  of  it.     But  a  dreadful 
deed  was  done.     The  religious  and  respectable  world  took 
deep  offence ;  a  petition  signed  by  four  thousand  clergymen 
and  magistrates,  and  praying  that  legal  proceedings  might 


REGIUS   PROFESSOR  221 

be  taken  for  the  suppression  of  Socialist  opinions,  was  pre- 
sented by  the  Bishop  of  Exeter  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
and  Melbourne  had  to  defend  himself.  He  did  so  by 
speech  and  pen.  In  a  letter  to  the  late  Sir  Edward  Baines 
he  repudiated  all  sympathy  with  Owen's  opinions,  and  ad- 
mitted that  he  had  put  his  name  on  the  presentation  card 
'  unguardedly  and  imprudently.'  This  was  the  sum  of  his 
offence,  but  it  demanded  some  expiation,  which  was  no 
doubt  suffered  in  part  at  the  poll-booth.  It  added  to  the 
unpopularity  of  the  Government,  and  was  not  forgotten  at 
the  political  crisis  which  was  fast  approaching. 


LORD    MELBOURNE 


CHAPTER  XII 

HIS    FALL 

Growing  weakness  of  the  Cabinet — Incidents  of  a  protracted  dissolution 
— Canada — The  Syrian  question — Palmerston's  autocracy  in  foreign 
affairs — Melbourne  keeps  the  peace — The  Queen's  Marriage — His 
fatherly  approval — The  troubles  of  the  Ministry  thicken — Embar- 
rassed finance — The  Corn  Laws — Defeat  on  the  Sugar  Duties — A 
general  election — The  majority  of  ninety-one — Melbourne  resigns — 
His  parting  interview  with  the  Queen. 

The  closing  years  of  Lord  Melbourne's  administration  have 
been  styled  inglorious,  but  they  were  in  some  respects 
memorable.  By  dint  of  unwearied  patience  the  Irish 
measures  which  the  Government  had  in  view  on  first  taking 
office  were  passed  through  Parliament.  The  tithe  question 
was  settled,  the  Irish  Municipal  Corporations  were  placed 
on  a  more  popular  basis,  and  a  system  of  poor  law  relief  was 
established  in  Ireland  for  the  first  time.  These  measures, 
it  is  true,  were  maimed  and  shorn  of  much  of  their  efficacy 
by  the  amendments  to  which  they  were  subjected  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  where  the  Opposition,  led  by  Lord  Lynd- 
hurst,  the  renegade  Jacobin  of  other  days,  did  all  they  could 
to  resist  pacificatory  legislation.  'Aliens  in  blood,  in 
language,  and  in  religion  '  was  the  savage  description  Lord 
Lyndhurst  applied  to  our  Irish  fellow-subjects.  Melbourne's 
application  to  him  of  a  remark  once  made  of  Lord  Strafford 
was  a  fairly  adequate  retort  :  '  The  malignity  of  his  practices 


HIS    FALL  223 

is  hugely  aggravated  by  his  vast  talents,  whereof  God  has 
given  him  the  use,  but  the  Devil  the  application.'  The 
Government  had  to  surrenderon  many  points,  but  they  did 
their  best,  and  concluded  that  half  the  good  they  intended 
was  better  than  nothing.  In  England  a  beginning  was  made 
with  popular  education.  The  Committee  of  Privy  Council 
was  established,  and  a  grant  of  30,000/.  in  aid  of  Voluntary 
Schools  was  the  forerunner  of  the  more  elaborate  system 
and  the  larger  expenditure  of  to-day.  It  must  be  owned 
that  on  the  education  question  Melbourne  was  somewhat  of 
an  obscurantist.  He  did  not  share  Lord  John  Russell's 
enthusiasm.  He  never  believed  that  the  mixed  system  in 
Ireland  would  work  well,  and  to  this  extent  his  sagacity 
has  been  proved  by  the  result.  As  regards  one  main  plea 
for  extending  education. in  England — its  probable  effect  in 
diminishing  crime,  he  wrote  to  Lord  John  :  '  I  do  not  myself 
much  like  connecting  the  subject  of  education  with  criminal 
law.  It  leads  to  the  doctrine  which  is  held  by  man)-,  that 
the  uninstructed  are  not  responsible,  and  therefore  not  fit 
objects  of  punishment.'  He  'doubted  whether  there  was 
anybody  who  had  not  been  told  that  there  was  a  God  who 
would  punish  him,  that  Jesus  Christ  had  made  an  atone- 
ment for  the  sins  of  the  world,  and  that  it  was  displeasing 
to  God,  and  therefore  wrong,  to  murder  and  rob.'  He 
thought  these  elementary  doctrines  were  '  strongest  in  them- 
selves,' and  would  only  be  weakened  by  explanation.  He 
admitted,  however,  that  Lord  John  was  likely  to  be  butter 
informed  than  he  was,  and  happily  Lord  John  had  his 
way.  One  other  measure  reflects  honour  on  the  waning 
administration.  They  gave  their  support  to  Rowland  Hill, 
and  the  country  thenceforth  enjoyed  the  inestimable  boon 
of  penny  postage. 


224  LORD   MELBOURNE 

It  was  a  seething  time  in  colonial  affairs.      The  old 
system  of  irresponsible   government   in  the   colonies   was 
coming  to  an  end,  and  a  '  new  departure '  was  forced  upon 
Parliament   by  an  outbreak  in  Canada.      The  people  de- 
manded an  elective  Legislature.     The  demand  had  driven 
Kine   William   almost  frantic.      He   declaimed   about  his 
prerogative  in  the  Privy  Council  and  in  his  interviews  with 
colonial  officials.     It  was  not   his  fault  that  our  immortal 
blunder   with   the   thirteen    American    colonies    was    not 
repeated.      The   first  outbreak   in    Canada   was   promptly 
suppressed,  but  it  broke  out  again,  and,  with  sympathisers 
on  the  American  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  it  involved  us 
in   difficulties  with  the  United  States.     The  Government 
sent   over   Lord  Durham  as  Governor-General  with  large 
powers.     As  a  Radical  in  politics  he  seemed  likely  to  win 
colonial  confidence.      Unhappily  his  rashness  marred  the 
experiment.      He  took  over  with  him  in  official  positions 
two    men    of   spotted    reputation,    Mr.    Turton    and    Mr. 
Wakefield.     Melbourne  inveighed  vehemently  against   the 
imprudence,   but   all    he   could   do   with   the   wilful   Earl 
was   to   insist   that  at  least   they   should  be   kept   in   the 
background.     On  arriving  in  Canada  Lord  Durham  pub- 
lished an  amnesty,  with  numerous  exceptions,  the  excepted 
persons  being  subjected   to  the   penalty  of  death  if  they 
ventured  to  return.     The  amnesty  ordinance  made  a  great 
uproar  in  Parliament.     It    was  held    to  be  a    violation  of 
the  first  principles  of  justice,  and   Lord  Durham  was  in- 
structed  to    announce   its  disallowance.      He  did   this  in 
a   proclamation   which   was  virtually  an   appeal   from   the 
Government  to  the  people  of  Canada,  and  he  was  at  once 
recalled,  but  before  the  order  of  recall  could  reach  him,  he 
had  thrown  up  his  post  and  landed  at  Plymouth.     Never- 


HIS   FALL  225 

theless,  his  report  on  Canadian  affairs,  drawn  up  by  Mr. 
Charles  Buller,  suggested  the  outlines  of  a  constitutional 
system,  and  under  his  successor,  Mr.  Poulett  Thompson, 
afterwards  Lord  Sydenham,  a  beginning  was  made  in  that 
wise  administration  which  restored  loyalty  to  the  colony, 
and  prepared  the  way  for  the  federation  of  all  the  provinces 
in  the  present  Dominion  of  Canada. 

On  the  Syrian  question  the  Government  narrowly 
escaped  a  war  with  France.  Mehemet  Ali,  not  satisfied 
with  the  Pashalic  of  Egypt,  entertained  aggressive  designs 
against  the  Sultan,  the  final  scope  of  which  could  only  be 
conjectured.  His  troops  were  victorious  in  Syria  and  in 
full  march  towards  Constantinople  when  England  inter- 
fered. Their  rival  views  on  Egypt  prevented  harmonious 
action  between  England  and  France.  It  was  the  rehearsal 
of  a  very  recent  story.  To  checkmate  France,  Lord  Pal- 
merston  negotiated  a  treaty  between  England,  Austria, 
Russia,  and  Prussia  for  the  protection  of  Turkey,  and  a 
fleet  was  sent  to  the  Mediterranean  under  orders  for  instant 
action.  France  was  furious.  At  home  the  Cabinet  was 
torn  asunder.  Throughout  the  whole  affair  Lord  Pal- 
merston  acted  like  an  autocrat,  but  nevertheless  with  much 
suppleness,  bidding  only  for  delay.  Lord  John  Russell  was 
incensed  at  the  high-handed  proceedings  of  his  colleague. 
He  urged  that  conciliatory  overtures  should  be  made  to 
France,  but  he  urged  still  more  persistently  that  Lord  Pal- 
merston  should  submit  his  measures  and  his  despatches 
beforehand  to  the  judgment  of  the  Cabinet.  Melbourne 
played  the  part  of  mediator  between  them,  but  he  was 
too  closely  associated  with  Palmerstcn  and  had  too  much 
sympathy  with  him  to  take  any  peremptory  measures. 
There  was   an  absence   of  central   control.      '  We   are   a 

Q 


226  LORD   MELBOURNE 

republic,'  said  Lord  Holland,  but  the  Cabinet  was  not  even 
a  republic.  It  was  a  group  of  departmental  chiefs,  each  of 
whom  was  clothed  with  plenary  power.  Lord  John  Russell's 
voice  was  absolute  in  home  affairs,  and  Lord  Palmerston 
was  resolved  that  no  one  should  overrule  himself  in  foreign 
affairs.  The  quarrel  then  begun  had  a  memorable  revival  a 
dozen  years  later.  For  the  present  Lord  Palmerston  was  tri- 
umphant. His  plans  succeeded.  The  blow  struck  at  Acre 
finished  the  business,  and  the  resignation  of  M.  Thiers  was  an 
admission  on  the  part  of  France  that  his  policy  had  prevailed. 
Melbourne  might  well  be  careless  of  Cabinet  bickerings. 
He  knew  they  could  not  last  long.  Fate  with  winged  foot 
was  hastening  to  put  an  end  to  them,  and  the  work  he  liked 
best  was  at  Court,  where  for  the  time  he  had  a  new  pupil. 
The  Queen's  marriage  had  been  at  last  a  sudden  affair. 
Prince  Albert  had  visited  England  in  1836,  but  from  the 
period  of  her  accession  the  Queen  had  kept  up  no  corre- 
spondence with  him  as  she  had  done  before,  and  it  was 
understood  that  she  wished  three  or  four  years  to  pass  by  before 
thinking  of  marriage.  His  relatives  were,  naturally  averse  to 
any  long  postponement.  His  father  said  that  if  he  waited 
till  his  twenty-first,  twenty-second,  or  twenty-third  year,  it 
would  be  impossible  for  him  to  begin  any  new  career,  and 
that  his  whole  life  would  be  marred  if  the  Queen  should 
change  her  mind.  In  the  '  Early  Years  of  the  Prince  Con- 
sort,' the  tender  offering  laid  in  later  days  at  the  shrine  of 
youthful  love,  the  Queen  tells  us  that  '  she  never  entertained 
any  idea  of  this,  nor,'  she  adds,  '  can  the  Queen  now  think 
without  indignation  against  herself  of  her  wish  to  keep  the 
Prince  waiting  for  probably  three  or  four  years,  at  the  risk  of 
ruining  all  his  prospects  for  life,  until  she  might  feel  inclined 
to  marry.'   None  would  wish  to  disturb  the  exquisite  pleasure 


HIS    FALL  227 

of  an  act  of  penance  which  only  love  could  impose,  though 
we  may  think  that  the  Queen's  self-reproaches  were  unde- 
served. So  late  as  July  15,  1839,  the  Queen  wrote  to  her 
uncle,  King  Leopold,  strongly  desiring  delay  ;  but  it  was  not 
to  be.  On  October  10,  Prince  Albert  arrived  at  Windsor 
on  a  visit  to  the  Queen,  and  the  white  flag  of  the  maiden 
fortress  went  up  at  the  first  sight  of  the  handsome  summoner. 
On  the  15th  the  Queen  'proposed.' 

These  facts  dispose  of  a  passage  in  Greville's  '  Memoirs,' 
which  implies  that  on  this  occasion  the  Queen  withheld  her 
usual   confidence   from    Melbourne.       Mr.    Greville   says  : 
'  The  Queen  settled  everything  about  her  marriage  herself, 
and  without  consulting  Melbourne  at  all  on  the  subject,  not 
even  communicating  to  him  her  intentions.    The  reports  were 
already  rife  while  he  was  in  ignorance,  and  at  last  he  spoke 
to  her,  told  her  that  he  could  not  be  ignorant  of  the  reports, 
nor  could  she  ;  that  he  did  not  presume  to  inquire  what 
her  intentions  were,  but  that  it  was  his  duty  to  tell  her  that 
if  she  had  any  it  was  necessary  that  her  ministers  should  be 
apprised  of  them.     She  said  she  had  nothing  to  tell  him, 
and  about  a  fortnight  afterwards  she  informed  him  that  the 
whole  thing  was  settled.'     It  appears  that  the  Queen  did 
not  know  her  own  mind  as  to  marriage  till  the   10th,  and 
that  on  the  15th  she  was  a  betrothed  bride,  so  that  a  fort- 
night before  she  might  well  say  to  Melbourne  that  she  had 
nothing  to  tell  him.     The  Queen's  letter  to  King  Leopold 
announcing  her  engagement  refers  to  Melbourne  in  terms  of 
utter  frankness  and  simplicity.     It  is  written  on  the  day  on 
which  the   engagement    took   place,  and   the  conversation 
with  Melbourne  must  have  been  earlier.     The  Queen  says  : 
'  Lord  Melbourne,  whom  I  have  of  course  consulted  about 
the  whole  affair,  quite  approves  my  choice,  and  expresses 

Q  2 


228  LORD   MELBOURNE 

great  satisfaction  at  this  event,  which  he  thinks  in  every  way 
highly  desirable.  Lord  Melbourne  has  acted  in  this  busi- 
ness, as  he  has  always  done  towards  me,  with  the  greatest 
kindness  and  affection.  We  also  think  it  better,  and  Albert 
quite  approves  of  it,  that  we  should  be  married  very  soon 
after  Parliament  meets,  about  the  beginning  of  February.' 

The  preparations  for  the  marriage  furnished  Melbourne 
with  a  good  deal  of  congenial  occupation.  There  was  the 
declaration  to  be  prepared  which  the  Queen  was  to  read  in 
the  Privy  Council.  '  Precisely  at  two,'  says  the  Queen  in 
her  journal,  '  I  went  in.  The  room  was  full,  but  I  hardly 
knew  who  was  there.  Lord  Melbourne  I  saw  looking  kindly 
at  me  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  but  he  was  not  near  me.  I 
felt  my  hands  shook,  but  I  did  not  make  one  mistake.  I 
felt  most  happy  and  thankful  when  it  was  over.'  The 
annuity  to  be  settled  on  the  Prince  had  to  be  fixed  upon. 
The  Government  proposed  50,000/.,  and  Melbourne  told 
the  Queen  that  in  this  the  Cabinet  anticipated  no  diffi- 
culty whatever.  But  there  was  a  difficulty.  Mr.  Hume 
proposed  to  reduce  the  annuity  to  21,000/.,  and  on  this 
being  negatived,  an  amendment  was  carried  on  the  motion 
of  Colonel  Sibthorpe,  supported  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  re- 
ducing it  to  30,000/.  Melbourne  said  to  Stockmar  a  few 
days  later  :  '  The  Prince  will  be  very  angry  at  the  Tories. 
But  it  is  not  the  Tories  only  whom  the  Prince  has  to  thank 
for  cutting  down  his  allowance.  It  is  rather  the  Tories, 
the  Radicals,  and  a  great  proportion  of  our  own  people.' 
Some  questions  were  raised  as  to  whether  the  Prince  was  a 
Protestant.  Melbourne  told  the  Queen  that  he  was  afraid 
to  say  anything  about  the  Prince's  religion,  and  that  the 
subject  would  not  therefore  be  alluded  to  in  the  declaration 
to  be  made  in  the  Privy  Council.     But  there  were  suspicious 


HIS   FALL  229 

sticklers  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  the  Prince  had  to  be 
described  as  Protestant  in  the  Annuity  Bill.  The  prece- 
dence to  be  assigned  to  the  Prince  was  a  more  ticklish 
question.  Melbourne  was  pestered  by  all  the  Royal  Dukes, 
and  what  with  their  remonstrances  and  the  Act  of  Henry 
VIII.  for  the  placing  of  peers,  the  matter  was  sufficiently 
intractable.  A  paper  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Greville  at  last 
pointed  a  way  out  of  the  dilemma,  and  whereabouts  the 
Prince  should  stand  or  sit  was  left  to  be  determined  by  the 
Queen's  prerogative.  In  other  words,  if  we  can  bear  the 
simplicity  of  the  solution,  the  Queen  might  put  him  where 
she  pleased. 

It  was  a  strange  transition  from  the  trivialities  of  Court 
etiquette  to  the  serious  difficulties  which  beset  the  Cabinet. 
There  were  two  distinct  growths  of  public  opinion,  Radi- 
calism and  Conservatism,  and  both  were  unfavourable  to 
the  Government.  The  Whigs,  who  at  one  time  seemed  to 
represent  the  whole  of  the  Liberal  following,  were  becom- 
ing more  and  more  a  left  centre  party,  and  the  party  to  the 
left  of  them,  by  no  means  the  extreme  left,  was  rapidly  in- 
creasing. A  similar  change  was  taking  place  on  the  right, 
though  there  the  number  of  the  right  centre,  where  Sir 
Robert  Peel  planted  his  banner,  was  increasing,  while  the 
more  extreme  members  of  the  party,  those  who  could  re- 
member the  good  old  days  of  '  Church  and  King,'  were 
diminishing.  The  forces  under  the  Conservative  leader 
were  every  day  becoming  more  numerous  and  more  com- 
pact, and  could  be  relied  upon  to  move  together  at  the 
word  of  command.  The  growth  of  Radicalism  could  not  be 
prevented,  yet,  in  proportion  as  it  grew,  there  was  a  certain 
amount  of  reaction  in  public  opinion  towards  the  Conserva- 
tive side.      There  was  once  more  a  good  deal  of  social 


230  LORD   MELBOURNE 

disturbance  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  There  was  an 
absurd  outbreak  in  South  Wales  which  had  to  be  put  down 
by  military  force.  Chartism  was  rife  at  Birmingham  and  in 
Lancashire.  The  six  points  became  the  programme  for  a 
new  agitation.  Eloquent  working-class  leaders  were  spring- 
ing up  who  had  a  leaning  towards  physical  force  and  did 
not  mind  risking  the  treadmill.  Most  formidable  appari- 
tion of  all,  the  Anti-Corn  Law  League  was  sending  forth  its 
lecturers  into  all  parts  of  the  land,  and  a  cry  was  being 
raised  for  cheap  bread.  Trade  was  miserably  bad.  Manu- 
factures were  depressed.  In  towns  like  Stockport  half  the 
looms  were  silent.  The  people  were  beginning  to  perceive 
that  the  same  law  which  made  bread  dear  restricted  the 
labour  and  lowered  the  wages  of  the  workmen.  This  was 
becoming  a  general  conviction,  though  on  the  question  of 
method  there  was  a  difference  of  opinion.  The  free-traders 
thought  it  wiser  to  assail  one  clearly  pernicious  law  or  set 
of  laws,  while  the  chartists  were  for  availing  themselves 
of  the  prevailing  distress  in  order  to  accomplish  organic 
changes. 

The  ministry  drifted  with  the  stream.  They  had  to 
revise  their  opinions.  The  ballot  was  recognised  as  an 
open  question.  Lord  John  Russell  offered  some  encourage- 
ment to  the  motion  for  a  ten-pound  franchise  in  the  counties. 
Some  change  was  seen  to  be  necessary  in  the  Corn  Laws. 
Lord  John  advocated  the  abolition  of  the  sliding  scale  and 
the  substitution  of  a  fixed  duty  of  eight  shillings  per  quarter. 
Melbourne  was  the  one  whom  it  was  the  most  difficult  to 
move  on  this  question.  He  doubted  whether  '  the  property 
or  the  institutions  of  the  country  could  stand'  the  free  im- 
portation of  corn.  A  year  or  two  before  he  had  expressed 
the  opinion  that  '  the  minister  who  should  try  to  carry  the 


HIS   FALL  231 

total  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws  would  be  considered  fit 
for  a  lunatic  asylum.'-  But  even  Melbourne  came  round. 
In  February  1841  Lord  John  Russell  brought  the  question 
of  the  Corn  Laws  before  the  Cabinet,  and  it  was  decided 
that  they  should  take  their  stand  on  a  fixed  duty.  Perhaps 
the  discussion  was  not  very  luminous,  or  it  had  perhaps 
been  left  in  the  hands  of  the  experts  and  the  conclusion 
arrived  at  was  not  very  distinctly  announced.  At  any  rate, 
it  is  probably  of  this  meeting  that  a  story  is  told  which  Mr. 
Walpole  finds  in  a  letter  from  Lord  Clarendon,  but  which 
may  be  given  in  its  raciest  version.  Just  as  they  were 
breaking  up,  Melbourne  shouted  to  his  colleagues  from  the 
top  of  the  staircase :  '  Stop  a  bit  ;  is  it  to  lower  the  price  of 
bread,  or  isn't  it?  It  doesn't  much  matter  which,  but  we 
must  all  say  the  same  thing.'  It  is  perhaps  as  well  to 
remember  that  such  stories  are  quite  susceptible  of  a  little 
garnishing. 

The  state  of  the  finances  pointed  to  the  necessity  of 
some  fiscal  change.  There  had  been  deficits  year  after 
year,  and  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  had  now  to 
deal  with  one  of  a  couple  of  millions.  Mr.  Baring  resolved 
to  try  what  some  approach  to  free  trade  would  do.  There 
were  differential  duties  in  favour  of  sugar  and  timber  im- 
ported from  the  colonies.  It  was  proposed  to  reduce  the 
duties  on  foreign  sugar  and  timber  and  to  raise  those 
imposed  on  the  colonial  products,  thereby  reducing  the 
difference  between  them.  The  anticipated  gain  to  the 
revenue  was  fixed  at  1,300,000/.  The  battle  was  fought 
over  the  Sugar  Bill,  and,  after  a  debate  which  lasted  over 
eight  nights,  the  Government  were  beaten  by  a  majority  of 
thirty-six.  Then  arose  the  question  whether  they  should 
resign  or  dissolve.     Melbourne  was  opposed  to  a  dissolu- 


232  LORD   MELBOURNE 

tion,  but  the  majority  of  the  Cabinet  were  against  him  and 
he  gave  way.  Writing  to  the  Queen,  he  said  :  '  Of  course 
I  felt  I  could  but  go  with  them  ;  so  we  shall  go  on,  bring 
in  the  old  sugar  duties,  and  then,  if  things  are  in  a  pretty 
good  state,  dissolve.'  But  Sir  Robert  Peel  did  not  lend 
himself  to  this  arrangement.  He  saw  his  opportunity  and 
resolved  to  charge  home.  On  finding  that  they  were  pre- 
pared to  go  on,  he  moved  a  vote  of  want  of  confidence  and 
carried  it  by  a  majority  of  one.  This  left  the  Government 
no  alternative,  and  on  June  23  Parliament  was  dissolved. 
The  new  Parliament  met  in  August,  an  amendment  to  the 
address,  moved  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  was  carried  by  a  majority 
of  ninety-one,  and  the  Government  forthwith  resigned. 

The  long  agony  was  over.  For  a  couple  of  years  the 
Melbourne  administration  had  been  dying  a  lingering 
death,  and  at  last  the  end  had  come.  They  might  perhaps 
have  died  with  greater  dignity.  They  might  have  folded 
their  robes  around  them  and  chosen  the  moment  of  disso- 
lution. Instead  of  this,  they  held  on  to  the  furthest  bounds 
of  fate  and  yielded  only  to  necessity.  Perhaps  they  did 
right.  Why  should  men  or  governments  die  before  their 
time?  If  office  is  a  trust,  they  might  well  consider  them- 
selves bound  to  remain  in  till  they  were  turned  out.  In 
this  way  they  divested  themselves  of  all  responsibility  for 
the  result,  and  threw  it  upon  those  to  whom  it  properly 
belonged,  the  representatives  of  the  people  in  Parliament, 
and  ultimately  upon  the  people  themselves.  They  had 
fought  a  gallant  fight  with  the  reactionary  forces  in  the 
Lords,  and  practically  raised  a  question  which  has  been 
growing  in  gravity  ever  since.  If  it  must  be  said  that 
Melbourne's  career  as  Prime  Minister  had  not  been  brilliant, 
there   remains   the  fact    that   his   administration   was   one 


HIS   FALL  233 

of  the  longest  of  the  century,  that  it  had  passed  many 
useful  measures,  and  had  been  more  successful  in  dealing 
with  Ireland  than  any  other  administration  before  or  since. 
And  there  is  the  further  title  to  our  grateful  recognition, 
that  he  played  an  important  part  at  the  critical  period  of  a 
long  reign,  and  by  his  devotion  to  the  Queen  rendered 
services  to  the  State  of  which  we  have  reaped  the  benefit 
through  a  peaceful  constitutional  development  of  fifty  years. 
It  was  far  easier  for  Melbourne  to  resign  the  cares  of 
Government  than  to  bid  farewell  to  Windsor.  On  the 
evening  of  his  resignation  he  saw  the  Queen  by  special 
request.  '  He  praised,'  says  the  Queen's  '  Journal,'  '  the 
speeches  of  Lord  John  Russell  and  Sir  Robert  Peel.' 
'Lord  Melbourne  himself,' writes  Sir  Theodore  Martin,  'was 
in  very  good  spirits,  saying  the  only  person  he  was  sorry  for 
was  the  Queen,  and  that  it  was  very  painful  for  him  to  leave 
her.  "  For  four  years  I  have  seen  you  every  day  ;  but  it  is 
so  different  now  from  what  it  would  have  been  in  1839. 
The  Prince,"  Lord  Melbourne  added,  "  understands  every- 
thing so  well,  and  has  a  clever,  able  head."  The  Queen  saw 
Lord  Melbourne  next  morning  before  he  left  the  Castle,  and 
was  much  affected  in  taking  leave  of  him.  "  You  will  find," 
he  said,  "a  great  support  in  the  Prince  ;  he  is  so  able.  You 
said  when  you  were  going  to  be  married  that  he  was  perfec- 
tion, which  I  thought  a  little  exaggerated  then,  but  really 
I  think  now  that  it  is  in  some  degree  realised." '  Similar 
testimony  to  the  Prince's  abilities  was  conveyed  in  a  parting 
note,  a  copy  of  which  the  Queen  sent  to  King  Leopold  with 
this  remark  :  '  This  naturally  gave  me  great  pleasure  and 
made  me  very  proud,  as  it  comes  from  a  person  who  is  no 
flatterer,  and  would  not  have  said  it  if  he  did  not  think  so 
and  feel  so.' 


234  LORD   MELBOURNE 

It  was  not  a  final  adieu.  The  Queen's  friendship  for 
Melbourne  was  cherished  to  the  last.  While  the  recent 
elections  were  going  on  she  had  visited  him  at  Brocket. 
The  Queen  told  Sir  Robert  Peel  that  she  could  not  break 
off  all  intercourse  with  Lord  Melbourne,  and  Sir  Robert 
heartily  acquiesced.  At  a  memorable  crisis  in  the  career  of 
the  new  Premier  we  shall  meet  his  rival  again  at  Windsor, 
an  indulged  and  chartered  guest. 


o  3 


5 


CHAPTER   XIII 

BROCKET 

A  speech  at  Melbourne — Brocket  reminiscences — Augustus  Lamb — ■ 
Lord  Egremont — The  picture  in  the  Great  Saloon — Not  left  in 
utter  loneliness — His  interest  in  politics — Again  in  the  House  of 
Lords — A  Windsor  incident — Still  ready  to  go  if  'sent  for' — His 
health  steadily  declining — Not  included  in  the  Ministerial  combina- 
tion of  1S46 — His  last  vote  by  proxy — An  episode  of  1S32  —  The 
end. 

Lord  Melbourne  lived  six  years  after  resigning  office,  but 
for  him  they  were  eventless  years,  and  there  remains  but 
little  to  be  said.  He  went  for  a  few  weeks  into  Derbyshire 
in  search  of  quiet  after  the  excitement  of  the  political  crisis, 
but  he  was  afraid  of  '  some  address  or  something  of  that 
sort.'  '  Melbourne  itself,'  he  writes  to  Lord  John  Russell, 
'  is  a  large  manufacturing  and  political  village  ;  it  is  twenty- 
five  miles  from  Leicester,  seventeen  from  Nottingham,  eight 
from  Derby — rather  an  inflammable  neighbourhood.  Per- 
haps, however,  they  will  leave  me  quite  alone,  and  if  they 
do  not  I  must  manage  as  well  as  I  can.'  They  did  not 
leave  him  quite  alone.  The  presence  of  the  ex-Premier 
in  the  place  from  which  he  derived  his  title  was  an  occasion 
which  could  not  be  allowed  to  pass  unimproved.  Addresses 
were  presented  to  him  from  Derby  and  Melbourne,  and  he 
had  to  make  a  speech.  He  was,  of  course,  duly  sensible  of 
the  honour  of  receiving  such  proofs  of  appreciation  from 


2$6  LORD   MELBOURNE 

'  the  enlightened  and  opulent '  county  town,  and  from  his 
'  immediate  neighbours  and  friends.'  Though  he  regarded 
it  as  a  '  bore  '  beforehand,  he  was  no  doubt  glad  of  the 
opportunity  of  reviewing  his  administration,  and  of  dwelling 
upon  the  benefits,  political  and  social,  which  it  had  been 
the  means  of  conferring  upon  the  country.  In  deprecating 
the  inconveniences  of  popularity  he  was  not  to  be  taken  at  his 
word — as,  indeed,  few  men  are — and  if  it  had  been  possible 
to  present  him  with  addresses  on  an  average  of  one  in  three 
months,  it  is  probable  that  his  sense  of  political  loneliness 
would  have  been  greatly  soothed,  and  his  remaining  days 
made  more  happy. 

His  fixed  abode  was  henceforth  at  Brocket.  Among 
its  sheltering  woods  and  its  soft  pastures  by  the  banks 
of  the  dreamy  Lea  he  found  the  solace  of  sad  but  dear 
memories,  and  could  live  over  again  the  days  of  his  youth. 
It  was  there  that  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  used  to  give  him  a 
ride  on  his  foot  as  a  reward  for  being  quiet  while  some  fresh 
touches  were  added  to  his  portrait.  It  was  there  that  he 
had  brought  his  wife  when  love  had  not  yet  lost  its  hues  of 
visionary  romance,  and  there  were  no  wayward  impulses 
to  disturb  his  repose.  The  latest  recollections  the  place 
jevived  were,  perhaps,  the  saddest.  It  was  there  that  he 
had  witnessed  the  departure  of  his  only  son,  whom  he  had 
loved  and  watched  over  from  childhood  with  more  than  a 
mother's  tenderness.  '  Augustus,'  he  wrote  at  the  time, 
'  was  lying  on  a  sofa  near  me  ;  he  had  been  reading,  but  I 
thought  had  dropped  asleep.  Suddenly  he  said  to  me  in  a 
quiet  and  reflective  tone  :  "  I  wish  you  would  give  me  some 
franks  that  I  may  write  and  thank  people  who  have  been 
kind  in  their  inquiries."  The  pen  dropt  from  my  hand  as  if 
I  had  been  struck  ;  for  the  words  and  the  manner  were  as 


BROCKET  237 

clear  and  thoughtful  as  if  no  cloud  had  ever  hung  heavily 
over  him.  I  cannot  give  any  notion  of  what  I  felt ;  for  I 
felt  it  to  be,  as  it  proved,  the  summons  they  call  lightning 
before  death.  In  a  few  hours  he  was  gone.'  This  event 
occurred  just  on  the  eve  of  his  four  years'  residence  at 
court.  The  parental  void  created  prepared  him  for  a  new 
and  dutiful  attachment  which  was  almost  parental.  The 
sense  of  bereavement  was  assuaged  till  it  was  almost  for- 
gotten by  incessant  occupation  with  a  task  in  which  his  best 
feelings  found  scope  for  action.  Now  that  he  was  suddenly 
released  from  all  public  duties,  the  emotions  so  pathetically 
described  in  the  extract  just  given  would  come  upon  him 
afresh,  and  he  had  leisure  to  realise  his  loss. 

Every  room  at  brocket  carried  his  thoughts  back  to 
old  days.  The  decoration  and  garniture  of  the  place  were 
memorials  of  his  mother's  taste  and  prodigality.  She  had 
lavished  upon  it  all  that  artistic  skill  could  furnish  or  that 
wealth  could  buy.  In  the  saloon  there  hung  a  portrait  of 
the  Earl  of  Egremont,  '  so  wonderfully  like  Lord  Melbourne,' 
says  Mr.  Hayward,  '  that  it  is  impossible  to  help  being  struck 
by  it.'  Late  in  life  he  was  taking  Sir  Edwin  Landseer  and 
another  visitor  round  the  Grand  Saloon,  when  Landseer, 
coming  opposite  the  portrait,  gave  a  start  and  involuntarily 
turned  round  to  look  at  him.  '  Ay,'  said  Lord  Melbourne, 
'you  have  heard  that  story,  have  you?  But  it's  all  a  lie 
for  all  that.'  Egremont  had  died  a  few  years  before, 
surrounded  by  a  host  of  children  and  grandchildren,  but 
without  one  whom  the  law  could  recognise  as  his  heir. 
When  his  end  was  approaching,  he  sent  for  Melbourne,  who, 
says  Mr.  Torrens,  '  was  seldom  long  without  paying  him  a 
visit,  and  never  ceased  to  delight  in  his  original  and  sug- 
gestive conversation.'      At  this  last  interview,  at  the  age  of 


23S  LORD   MELBOURNE 

eighty-five,  'he  was  in  full  possession  of  his  faculties,  and 
talked,  as  if  done  with  life,  of  the  condition  of  the  country, 
and  what  he  deemed  the  tendency  of  things.'  Looking  at 
the  timepiece,  he  said,  'William,  I  have  lived  long  enough 
to  see  the  hand  go  round.  In  the  first  quarter  of  my  time 
the  world  was  nothing  but  profligate  ;  in  the  next  there  came 
a  great  revival  of  puritanism  ;  then  came  another  spell  of 
luxury  and  licence,  and  now  you  have  a  revival  of  religion 
once  more.'  Though  he  had  come  to  differ  from  Melbourne 
in  politics  he  was  delighted  with  his  success,  and  declared 
that  the  only  blunder  in  his  career  which  he  could  never 
understand  was  his  'mad  choice  of  a  wife.'  Melbourne, 
who  knew  the  whole  of  that  delicate  business  better,  was 
probably  not  prepared  even  then  to  say  that  he  repented  of 
the  bargain,  and  on  the  point  challenged  he  had  perhaps 
shown  more  sanity  than  his  censor. 

It  is  said  that  he  suffered  much  from  mental  depression 
at  Brocket,  and  when  the  circumstances  are  considered  there 
can  be  no  wonder  if  he  did.  For  twelve  years  he  had  been 
a  member  of  the  Government,  he  had  been  Premier  for  more 
than  six,  and  for  the  greater  part  of  that  time  he  had  been 
in  constant  attendance  on  the  Queen.  He  had  led  a  busy 
life,  he  had  been  the  centre  of  important  interests,  the  arbiter 
of  Cabinet  differences,  the  dispenser  of  patronage,  a  notable 
man  in  society.  All  at  once  his  pleasant  occupations  ceased, 
and  he  was  thrown  upon  himself,  with  nothing  to  do  but 
to  ruminate  upon  the  past.  Probably  Brocket  was  not  the 
best  place  for  him,  full  as  it  was  of  melancholy  associations. 
Six  months  at  Cannes  or  a  trip  to  Egypt  or  India  would 
now  be  recommended,  but  such  remedies  were  not  then  so 
much  in  fashion.  Apart  from  his  liking  for  books  he  had  no 
employment  and  no  source  of  enjoyment.     In  this  respect 


BROCKET  239 

he  was  worse  off  than  some  of  his  friends.  Lord  Althorp 
found  a  large  resource  in  sheep-breeding.  Lord  John 
Russell,  when  freed  from  Cabinet  cares,  would  superintend 
his  children's  and  step-children's  tea-parties,  or  write  a 
pamphlet,  or  meditate  a  drama,  or  compose  a  dissertation 
on  the  state  of  Europe.  With  Melbourne,  social  intercourse 
was  the  very  breath  of  life,  and  when  deprived  of  it  he  sank 
into  torpor  or  uneasy  restlessness.  But  he  was  not  left,  as 
has  been  imagined,  to  pine  in  utter  loneliness.  Hisbrother 
Lord  Beauvale  and  his  wife  made  their  home  at  Brocket  for 
half  the  year.  Lord  Beauvale  had  been  minister  at  Vienna, 
where  Lord  Palmerston  did  not  find  him  too  submissive  an 
agent,  and  Melbourne  had  to  keep  the  peace  between  them. 
Few  men  were  better  acquainted  with  the  state  of  parties  or 
more  versed  in  the  political  gossip  of  the  day.  After  a  free- 
and-easy  bachelorhood  of  sixty  years,  he  had  married  a  lady 
of  twenty,  who  from  the  description  given  of  her  was  almost 
perfect  in  character,  in  accomplishments,  and  in  devotion  to 
her  husband.  'With  such  relatives  always  at  hand  there  can 
have  been  no  lack  of  sunshine  or  of  breezy  talk.  His  sister 
Emily,  widow  of  Earl  Cowper,  had  lately  married  Lord 
Palmerston,  his  friend  and  colleague.  Broadlands  and 
Panshanger  were  within  easy  reach.  Visits  could  be  easily 
exchanged,  and  a  word  at  any  time  would  bring  his  sister 
to  Brocket.  Lady  Holland,  the  indomitable  talker  of 
Holland  House,  now  in  her  widowhood,  was  often  there. 
He  had  nephews  and  nieces  who  were  not  likely  to  forget 
him.  Mrs.  Norton  occasionally  sent  him  a  sprightly  letter. 
'Who  have  you  got  at  Brocket?'  she  writes.  'Does 
Emily  hang  her  long  gowns  up,  like  banners  of  victory,  in 
the  cupboards  ?  Does  Lady  Holland  cut  herself  in  four  to 
help  and  serve  you  ?     Are  Fanny  Jocelyn's  soft  purple  eyes 


240  LORD   MELBOURNE 

at  your  tabic,  under  the  lamps  ?  or  does  the  "  Minny  "  who 
rivals  our  own  "  Georgy  "  rouse  you  to  any  love  and  admira- 
tion of  your  own  relations  ?'  The  two  ladies  first  mentioned 
were  his  sister's  daughters,  married  to  Lord  Shaftesbury  and 
Lord  Jocelyn.  '  Georgy '  was  the  Duchess  of  Somerset. 
These  were  openings  into  social  life  on  its  upper  level. 
Elsewhere,  his  old  secretary,  Mr.  Thomas  Young,  was  always 
foraging  for  his  entertainment,  sending  him  '  long  budgets 
dealing  with  every  topic  under  the  sun.'  With  these  re- 
sources he  had  not  to  suffer  many  of  the  pangs  of  exile. 
He  was  not  shut  up  to  the  consolations  of  pure  philosophy. 
In  the  session  of  1S42  he  was  in  his  place  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  deflates.  In  the 
autumn  he  had  an  attack  of  palsy  from  which  he  never 
entirely  recovered.  This  circumstance  is  sufficient  to  explain 
his  partial  exclusion  from  the  counsels  of  his  political 
friends.  They  cannot  be  charged  with  neglecting  him. 
They  wrote  to  him  frequently  to  exchange  opinions  on  the 
current  politics  of  the  day  and  to  ask  his  advice,  but  it  was 
clearer  to  them  than  it  was  perhaps  to  him  that  he  could  no 
longer  be  reckoned  upon  as  a  factor  in  party  combinations. 
There  is  some  evidence  that  he  did  not  consider  himself  as 
altogether  laid  aside.  Free  Trade  and  the  Corn  Laws  were 
the  great  questions  of  the  hour,  and  he  watched  with  eager 
curiosity  the  course  taken  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  whose  fol- 
lowers were  becoming  seriously  alarmed  by  what  he  had 
already  done  and  seemed  likely  to  do  in  a  free  trade  direc- 
tion. It  was  possible  that  if  he  went  much  further  his 
majority  would  break  up,  and  then  there  would  be  a  chance 
for  the  Whigs.  Perhaps  an  eight-shilling  fixed  duty  would 
triumph  after  all.  '  If  you  have  thoroughly  made  up  your 
mind,'  he  writes  to  Lord  John  Russell  in  1S43,  '  I  wish  you 


BROCKET  24I 

would  inform  me  what  language  you  mean  to  hold  respect- 
ing corn  when  Parliament  meets.  Of  course  you  have 
quite  dismissed  from  your  mind  the  notion  that  the  Govern- 
ment will  move  upon  that  subject.  Peel  would  be  an 
imbecile  if  he  were  to  break  up  his  party,  and  probably  his 
administration,  in  that  manner.  He  will  remain  quietly 
in  his  present  position.'  In  this  forecast  his  usual  sagacity 
was  wanting.  Sir  Robert  Peel  took  the  opposite  course 
to  that  which  he  imagined.  Hence  his  disappointment 
and  anger  when  the  final  plunge  was  made.  It  did  break 
up  the  Conservative  party,  and  immediately  opened  a  way 
to  office  for  their  opponents,  but  it  was  on  the  basis  of  entire 
free  trade  in  corn,  a  policy  which  Melbourne  was  as  yet  by 
no  means  prepared  to  adopt.  His  anger  at  Peel's  conver- 
sion broke  out  rather  unseasonably.  '  There  has  been  a 
curious  scene,'  writes  Greville,  'with  Melbourne  at  Windsor, 
which  was  told  me  by  Jocelyn,  who  was  present.  It  was 
at  dinner,  when  Melbourne  was  sitting  next  to  the  Queen. 
Some  allusion  was  made  to  the  expected  measure,  when 

Melbourne   suddenly   broke  out  :    "  Ma'am,  it  is  a  d 

dishonest  act."  The  Queen  laughed  and  tried  to  quiet 
him,  but  he  repeated,  "  I  say  again,  it  is  a  very  dishonest 
act,"  and  then  he  continued  a  tirade  against  the  abolition 
of  the  Corn  Laws,  the  people  not  knowing  how  to  look, 
and  the  Queen  only  laughing.'  The  Queen  at  last  said 
that  she  wished  to  hear  no  more  on  the  subject  then, 
though  she  would  be  willing  to  speak  with  Lord  Melbourne 
about  it  in  private. 

Holding  such  opinions  on  the  vital  question  of  the  day, 
it  is  difficult  to  imagine  that  Melbourne  can  have  expected 
to  have  a  place  found  for  him  in  Lord  John  Russell's 
ministry,  as  he  is  said  to   have   done.     Perhaps   he  only 

R 


242  LORD   MELBOURNE 

wanted  the  compliment  of  an  offer  from  his  old  friends. 
Perhaps  he  thought  that  as  the  question  was  settled  once 
for  all  he  might  consistently  acquiesce  in  what  had  been  done 
by  others  though  he  could  not  have  done  it  himself.  No 
offer  was  made,  but  he  received  from  Lord  John  a  soothing 
letter  : — '  I  submitted  to  the  Queen  yesterday  the  list  of  a 
new  Ministry.  I  have  not  proposed  to  you  to  form  a  part 
of  it,  because  I  do  not  think  your  health  is  equal  to  the  fa- 
tigues which  any  office  must  entail.  For  although  there  are 
offices  with  little  business  in  themselves,  the  Parliamentary 
work  has  increased  so  greatly  that  a  Lord  Privy  Seal,  for 
instance,  must  take  charge  of  committees,  and  be  constantly 
engaged  in  assisting  the  leader  of  the  House  of  Lords.  I 
propose  to  put  William  Cowper  (Melbourne's  nephew)  into 
his  old  place  in  the  Treasury.'  Melbourne  replied  : — 'You 
have  judged  very  rightly  and  kindly  in  making  me  no  offer. 
I  am  subject  to  such  frequent  accesses  of  illness  as  render 
me  incapable  of  any  exertion.  I  am  glad  of  what  you 
intend  about  William  Cowper.  I  do  not  think  that  he  would 
mind  being  left  out  himself,  but  it  would  have  been  very 
unpalatable  to  his  mother.'  Two  years  before,  when  there 
was  a  rumour  of  an  impending  crisis  in  the  Cabinet,  he  had 
held  himself  prepared  to  obey  a  summons  from  the  Queen. 
The  altered  situation  of  affairs  and  his  infirm  health  had 
changed  his  views,  and  his  reply  to  Lord  John  Russell's 
letter  may  be  taken  to  express  what  he  really  felt. 

His  work  was  dons.  His  last  vote  in  Parliament,  given 
by  proxy,  was  in  favour  of  the  Bill  for  the  removal  of  Jewish 
disabilities.  This  was  in  May  1848.  Through  the  summer 
and  autumn  he  was  visibly  declining.  Almost  at  the  end  an 
incident  occurred  which  was  at  once  ridiculous  and  painful. 
At  the  trial  of  Mr.  Smith  O'Brien  on   a   charge  of  high 


BROCKET  243 

treason,  a  remarkable  letter  was  produced  by  the  defence. 
It  was  addressed  to  Sir  William  Napier,  who  in  1S32  held 
the  post  of  commander  in  the  Midland  counties.  It  was 
dated  from  the  Home  Office,  signed  '  T.  Y.,'  sealed  with  the 
official  seal,  and  franked  by  Melbourne.  The  letter  was  not 
read  in  court,  but  it  was  published  next  day  in  the  '  Freeman's 
Journal.'  It  was  a  suggestion  to  Napier  that  he  might  be 
asked  to  take  command  of  the  insurgent  forces  in  the  event 
of  an  insurrection.  The  case  was  too  plain  for  mistake  or 
contradiction.  The  letter  was  one  of  the  pranks  of  his 
private  secretary,  Mr.  Thomas  Young,  who  had  been  trusted 
by  his  confiding  employer  not  wisely  but  too  well.  Young 
was  summoned  from  London  to  Brocket  for  explanations, 
and  his  confession  and  excuses  were  stammered  out  by  the 
bedside.  The  press  exploded  with  laughter,  but  it  was  no 
laughing  matter  for  the  dying  statesman,  whose  prudence 
was  so  signally  impeached.  He  felt  the  blow  keenly,  and  it 
perhaps  hastened  his  end.  On  November  22  the  public 
were  informed  of  his  critical  condition  by  the  '  Morning 
Chronicle  :  'It  is  feared  that  Lord  Melbourne  is  dying. 
At  one  time  the  family  at  Brocket  did  not  expect,  on 
Thursday,  that  he  would  live  through  the  day.  On  Friday 
he  rallied  ;  on  Saturday  morning  he  still  continued  rather 
better.'  The  hopeful  signs  were  delusive.  Two  days  later, 
on  November  24,  1848,  at  the  age  of  three  score  years  and 
ten,  he  passed  peacefully  away. 


INDEX 


ABE 

At'ERCROMBlE,  Mr.,  186-187 

Abinger,  Lord,  41 

Act  of  Union,  51 

Addington,  Mr.  (Lord  Sidmouth),  5^  53 

Albert,  Prince,  226-228,  233 

Alien  Act,  Hnskisson  and,  56 

'  All  the  Talents'  Ministry,  52-58,  176 

Althorp,  Lord  21-23,  43_44>  54-55.  6 1 
64-65;   68,  91,  94,  95,   115,    i3?>   M'- 
142,  150,   163,   i65,    168-174,   178-186, 

=39 

Anglesca,  Marquis  of,  142 
Anti-Corn  Law  League,  230 
'  Anti-Jacobin,'  Lamb  and  the,  25 
Arnold,  John  (tradesman),  8 

—  Dr.,  217-218 

Attwood,  Thomas,  151,  153,  155,  157 

Bai  ON,  Lord.  178 

Baines,  Sir  Edward,  221 

Balzac's  '  Physiologie  du  manage,'  80 

Paring,  Mr.,  231 

Bathurst,  115 

Baxter,  Richard  (the  Puritan),  4 

Beauvale,  Lord,  239 

Bedford,  Duke  of,  23-26,  115 

Belasyse,  Lord,  14-15 

Bentham,  Jeremy,  107,  150 

Berkeley,  28 

Bessborough,  the  third  Earl  of,   1 

I.ady,  79 
Bexley,  Lord,  115 
Birmingham,  132,  148 

—  Political    Union,    150,   152,   156,   157, 
162 

Bletchingly,  Borough  of,  117-118 
Bonaparte,  Pox  and,  51 
Bourne,  Mr.  Sturges,  119,  127 
Bragge,  Mr.  Bathurst,  60 
Brand,  Mr.,  58-59,  90 
Brandon,  Lord  and  Lady,  196 

Ireth,  Jeremiah,  146 
Brocket  Hall,  10,  20,  33,  49,  85-86 
Queen's  visit  to,  234  ;  last  days  ai. 

236 

I 
Broi     ham    I     rd    too,  105,  ti6,  117, 

141,  [47,1        1        '77-179)  iSjj  189-191 
Brummel,  Beau,  22,  38 


DEV 

Buckingham.  Duke  of,  3 

Puller,  Mr.  Chas.,  225 

Bulwer,  Mr.  H.  (Lord  Dalling),  in 

Burdett,  Sir  Francis,  97,   107,  116,   150, 

i5=-i53 
Burghley,  Lord,  2 

llurke  and  Economical  Reform,  16,  54 
Bute,  Lord,  206 
Byron,  Lord,  and  Lady  Caroline  Lamb, 

75-79,  81-82  ;  death  of,  85 

Calvert,  Mr.,  no 

Campbell,  Sir  John,  198 

Canada,  224-225 

Canning,  and  the  'Anti-Jacobin,'  25  ;and 

Huskisson,   56,  57,  59,  61,  68,   S8-91, 

93,  95,  102,  113-117  ;  death  of,  118-119  ; 

i297i3o,  138,  139 
Caroline,  Queen,  98-102 
Cartwright,  Major,  107 
Casaubon,  Isaac,  2 
Catholic  Association,  the,  103-106,  121- 

122,  129,  136-139 

—  Emancipation,  51-52,  57-5S,  89,  102- 
104,  112,  115,  164-166,  193-194 

Chartism,  230 

Church  Rates  Abolition  Bill,  199-201 

Civil  Bill  Process,  123 

Clarendon  and  Sir  John  Coke,  3-4 

Clarke,  Mrs.,  62-65 

Clergy  Bill,  the,  104 

Cobbett,  145 

Coercion  Bill,  168-173,  175 

Coke,  Sir  John,  and  sons,  2-1 1 

Comber  (Brixton  Gaol),  145-146 

Conyngham,  Lord,  202-203 

Corn  Laws,  230-231,  240-241 

Corporation  Am.  1  ;i.  180 

Corruption  in  Ireland,   127 

Cowper  Earl,  Emily,  wifeof,  13,  47,  04-S5 

—  Lord  and  Lady,  44-45 

—  Wm.,  242 

Criminal  Law  Amendment  Bill.   I 
Cumberland,  Duke  of,  205 

Dalling,  Lord,  1 1 1 

Penman,  Lord  Chief  Juslici 

1  >erby.  Lord,  1  1      166-171,  174,  l-  , 

Devonshire,  Duke  of,  119,  151 


246 


LORD   MELBOURNE 


DIS 

Disraeli,  Mr.,  197 

Dissenters,  Win.  Lamb  on,  31-32,  iji 

Divorce  Bills,  99 
Dorchester  Labourers,  160 
I  hummond,  Henry,  145-146 
—  Thomas,  193-194 
Dublin,  Lamb  at,  119-130 
Dudley,  Lord,  130,  133 
Duncannon,  Viscount,  116 
Duncombe,  Tom,  110-111 
Dunning,  and  the  Crown,  16 
Durham,  Lord,  169,  199,  224 

East  Retford,  Borough  of,   97,    131- 

132,  148 
Education  in  England,  223 
Egremont,  Lord,  19,  31,  38,  237 
Eldon,  Lord,  100,  105,  113,  119,  138,  139 
Ellis,  Charles  (Lord  Stuart  do  Rothesay), 

22 
Erskine,  Henry,  52 

Essay,  W.   Lamb's  first,  at  Cambridge, 
23-25,  and   on   the  '  English  Govern- 
ment,' 26 
Eton,  Wm.  Lamb  at,  22-23 
Evans,  De  Lacy,  151 

Farmers  and  farnVlabourers,  Melbourne 

on,  156-157 
Fauconberg,  Lord,  14 
Fitzgerald,  Mr.  Vesey,  136,  137 
Fitzwilliam,  Lord,  n 
Folkestone,  Lord,  61,  65,  93 
Fox,  Mr.,   18,    23-26,  50-53.   57.  67-68, 

1 19,  139 
B  ranee  and  Syria,  225 
Francis,  Duke  of  Bedford,  23-24,    26 
Free  Trade,  231,  240 

Garrick,  David,  44 

George    III.,    27,   39,    50,    58-61,    66; 

Regent  appointed  for,  67-69  ;  death  of, 

98 
George  IV.  (see  also  '  Prince  of  Wales  '), 

accession    of,    98  ;    his    wife,    98-102, 

114-115,   118-119,   129,  138;  death  of, 

'39 
Glasgow,  Law  and  Philosophy  at,  26-31 
Glenelg,  Lord,  199-200  (see  Mr.  Grant) 
Goderich,  Lord,  119,  129 
( rodolphin,  7 

( iodwin  and  Lady  Caroline  Lamb,  83-84 
Gosset,  Sir  W.,  193 
Goulburn,  Mr.,  123,  128 
Gower,  Lord,  and  Huskisson,  56 ;  Lady, 

109 
Graham,  Sir  Jas.,  142,  170-171 
1  Irampound,  Borough  of,  95-97 
Grand  Jury  Presentments,  123 
Grant,  Mr.  (Lord  Glenelg),  130,  132,  133, 

141 
Grantley,  Lord,  196 
< '.rattan's  Parliament,  137 
Grenville,  Lord,  50,  52 
Greville,  Fulke  (Lord  Brooke),  3 


LAM 

'  Greville  Memoirs,'  the,  19-20,  144,  14S, 
I53~I54>  198-199,  200,  202-204,  213, 
214,  216,  227-229,  241 

Grey,  Earl,  50,  52,  53,  57,  61,  115,  133, 
140,  141,  147-148,  152,  157.  163-164, 
169-174,  178,  188,  192,  194,  2or,  213-215 

'  Gronow's  Reminiscences,'  Captain, 62-63 

Habeas  Corpus  Act,  93,  105 

Hallam,  the  Historian,  22 

Hall's   Sermon  on  '  Modern  Infidelity,' 

31 
Hampden,  Dr.,  218 
Harrow,  Lord  Althorp  at,  23 
Hayward,  Mr.,  237 
Hertford  election,  no 
Heterodoxy,  Melbourne  and,  220 
Hill,  Rowland,  and  Penny  Postage,  223 
Hobhouse,  Mr.,  83,   106-107,  J5° 
Holland,  Lord,  77,  129,  170,  212,  226 

—  Lady,  77,  239 
Holmes,  Sir  Leonard,  96 

Home    Office,    Melbourne  at,    142-163, 

185 
Howiclc,  Lord.     See  'Earl  Grey 
Hume's  History,  5  ;  Mr.,  151,  194,  228 
Huskisson,  William,  55-57,  88,  113,  116, 

117,  119,  130,  132-133,  136,  138;  death 

of,  141 
Hutcheson,  Glasgow  Professor,  28 

Insolvent  Act,  renewal  of,  123 

Insurrection  Act,  121 

Ireland  (Lamb  Chief  Sec.  for),  118-130, 
136-137.  164-173.  193-194  5  Irish 
Question,  51,  103,  105,  106  ;  Land 
Question  in,  126;  corruption  in,  127; 
Church  in,  166-170,  180,  187,  193-194; 
tithe  war  in  167,  170,  195  ;  Poor  Law 
Commission  in,  179 ;  Irish  Corpora- 
tion Bill,  199-201 ;  Irish  Tithe  Bill,  200 

Irving,  Edward,  146 

Jamaica  Bill,  the,  213 
jury  Bill,  122-123 

Kent,  Duchess  of,  and  William  IV., 
200  ;  and  Queen  Victoria,  205-206  ; 
Duke  of,  220 

Kinnaird,  Chas.,  29 

Lamb,  Sir  Peniston  (first  Lord 
Melbourne),  11,  13-17 

—  son,  21,  35  ;  death  of,  46 

Lamb,  William  (Lord  Melbourne), 
ancestry  of,  i-nj  birth,  12;  early- 
years  and  education,  22-33  '.  and  the 
law,  37-42,  46  ;  marriage,  42-43  ;  his 
wife,  45-48,  71-87,  107,  118;  death 
of,  133-134;  in  Parliament,  49-69,  88- 
iii,  death  of  his  mother,  108;  im- 
pecuniosity,  108-110;  Chief  Secretary 
for  Ireland,  117-130;  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  135-137,  140;  at  the  Home 
Office,  142-163,  185  ;  Prime  Minister, 


INDEX 


247 


LAM 

174-176  ;  and  Lord  Al thorp,  179-1S3 ; 
and  Lord  Brougham,  183-184,  189  ; 
and  King  \VIlliam  IV.,  188,  191-193  ; 
character,  190,  191  ;  the  Melbourne 
Administration,  195-196  ;  and  Lady 
Brandon,  196 ;  and  the  Hon.  Mrs. 
Norton,  196-199 ;  and  Queen  Vic- 
toria, 204-216,  226-229,  234  ;  and 
Church  and  State,  216-220 ;  and  R. 
Owen,  220-221  ;  Cabinet  difficulties, 
229-233  ;  at  Brocket,  236-243  ;  death 
of  son,  236-237  ;  last  days  and  death, 
238-243.  See  also  'Essays,'  'Letters,' 
'Speeches,'  &c. 

Lamb,  George,  brother  of  Lord  Mel- 
bourne, 106-107 

Lamb,  Lady  Caroline  (Lady  Mel- 
bourne), 45-48,  71-87,  107,  118  ;  death 

Ofi   133-134 
Lamb,  Matthew,  9- n 

—  Emily  (Countess  Cowper),  13,  47,  239 

—  George  Augustus  Frederick  (^on  of 
William),  73,  236-237 

Lancashire   Sessions,    Wm.    Lamb   and 

the,  40-42 
Land  Question  in  Ireland,  126 
Landseer,  Sir  Edwin,  237 
Langford,  Dr.,  31 
Lansdowne,  Lord,  52,  115,  119,  122,  124 

130,  140,  157,  166,  179,  192 
Lauderdale,  Lord,  26-27 
Lee,  Alderman,  4 
Lehzen,  Baroness,  and  Queen  Victoria, 

205-207,  210 
Leominster,  Wm.  Lamb,  member  for,  49 
Leopold,  King,  208,  212,  227,  233 
Letters    of  William   Lamb,    28  32 ;   on 

Parliamentary     Reform,     97-98  ;     on 

Labour,  156-157  ;  on   Trades  Unions, 

158-159;    to    William   IV.,    180-183; 

to     Lord     Brougham,     189-191  ;     on 

Church  and  State,  216-220 
Lewis,  Monk,  31 
Littleton,  Mr.,  171-173 
Liverpool,   Lord,   69,  99-101,    112,    113, 

116,  117,  138 
Lyndhurst,  Lord,  153,  200,  222 
Lyttleton,  Mr.,  60 
Lytton,  Lord,  and  Lady  Caroline  Lamb, 

80-81,  84-85 

Mackintosh,  Sir  James,  106 

Maclise's  Portrait  Gallery,  151 

Manchester,  132,  148 

Mansfield,  Lord. 

Marchant,   Sir  Denis  le,  '  Life  of  Lord 

Althorp,'  39,  40,  44 
Martin,  Dick,  128 

—  Sir  Theodore,  233 
May,  Sir  Erskine,  60-61 
Mehemet  Ali,  225 

Melbourne,  Lord.  See  'William  Lamb' 
Lord  (first)  and  Lady,  15-22,  39 

-  Hall,  2-11  ;  House,  16-17,  48,  68  ;  life 
at>  73 


RAP 

Melville.  Lord,  65,  115 

Millar,  Professor,  26-31 

Milton,  Loid,  61,  69 

Minto,  Lord,  39 

Moore,  77 

Morgan,  Lady,  42-43,  77,  80 

Municipal  Corporations  Bill,  195,  222 

Mylne,  Professor,  27-28 

Napier,  Sir  William,  243 
National  Debt  in  1817,  91-92 
North,  Lord,  15,  18 
Norton,  Hon.  Sirs.,  196-199,  239 
Nottingham  Castle,  150 

O'Brien-,  Mr.  Smith,  242-243 
O'Connell  and  the  Catholic  Association, 

103,   106,   121,   126,   137,  138,  165-160, 

171-174,  187, 189,  193 
Oliver  (the  spy),  145 
O'Loghlen,  Mr.,  193 
O'Meara,  Rev.,  and  Mrs.  Clarke,  63-64 
Orangemen,  194,  205 
Owen,  Robert,  160-162,  220-221 

Palmerston',  Lady,  13 

—  Lord,  61,  96,  130,  132,  133,  138,  140, 
141,  153,  188,  199,  225-226,  239 

Parkes,  Joseph,  151,  153 

Parliamentary  Reform,  92,  95,  97-98, 
113,  116  ;  Bill,  140-141,  163-164 

Parnell,  Sir  Henry,  140 

Paving  and  Lighting  Bill  (Dublin),  122- 
123 

Peel,  Sir  R.,  113-115,  129,  i3r.  *32.  137, 
174,  183,  186,  188,  204,  208,  214-216, 
228,  229,  232-234,  240 

Penryn,  Borough  of,  97,  131-132 

Pepys,  the  Lord  Chancellor,  35-40 

Perceval,  Mr.,  62 

Perrin,  Mr.,  193 

Peterloo  Massacre,  the,  94.  toi 

Petty,  Lord  Henry,  see  Lord  Lans- 
downe 

Petworth,  33 

Philpott,  Dr.,  of  Exeter,  217 

Pitt,  Wm.,  49-52  ;  and  Huskisson,  56, 
67,  89 

Place,    Mr.  Francis,   107,  ioj-no,   150- 

151 
Plunket,  Mr.,  103,  126 
Ponsonby,  Caroline  (Lamb's  wife).  4  j  46 

—  Mr.  G.,  53,  61,  91 
Poor  Laws,  6,  162-163 
Portland,  Duke  of,  58,  61 
Poyntz,  Mr.,  44 

Privy  Council  Committee,  223 

Queens  of  i    rd     id,  the  four,  206 

Radicalism,  growth  of,  229 
Radicals  at  Spa  Fields,  92-93 
Radnor,  Lord,  61 
'  Kape   of    the  Lock,'   Thomas   Coke's 

portrait  in,  7  8 


248 


LORD   MELBOURNE 


REF 

Reform  Bills,  140,  14?,  146  140,  153  155 
162,  173,  180,  200;  Lord  John  Russell 
and,  213 

Reid,  28 

Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  20-21,  236 

Rice,  Mr.  Spring,  118,  128-130,  187 

Richmond,  Duke  of,  171 

Ripon,  Earl,  171 

Roebuck,  Mr.,  151 

Rogers,  75,  77-78, 

Romilly,  Sir  Samuel,  94,  106-107 

Russell,  Lord  John,  90,  93,  95-97,  115, 
131,  133,  141,  142,  147,  150,  166,  168- 
171,  173-174,  1S0,  182,  184,  186-188, 
193,  195,  199,  201,  212-214,  2I7>  223, 
225-226,230-231,  233,  235,  239,  240-242 

—  Mr.,  84-85 

—  Rev.  Lord  W.,  =t7 

Saxder's    '  Lord    Melbourne's  Papers,' 

216-217 
Satan,  Lord  Melbourne  and,  2:7 
Scarlett,  Mr.  (Lord  Abinger),  41 
Schleiermacher's  'St.  Luke,'  219 
Schomberg,  Marshal,  6 
Selwyn,  George,  15 
Shadwell,  the  Vice-Chancellor,  22 
Sheridan,  R.  B.,  52  ;  granddaughter  of, 

196 
Shiel,  125 

Sibthorpe,  Colonel,  228 
Sidmouth,  Lord,  52-53,  93,  159 
Six  Acts,  the,  94-95,  101 
Smith,  Adam,  28 

—  Assheton,  22 
Southwell,  town  of,  9-10 

Speeches,  maiden,  William  Lamb's,  57  ; 

on    a   constitutional  question,  58-60  ; 

about  sinecures,  66  ;  on  Reform  Bill, 

148-149 
Spencer,  Earl.     See  '  Lord  Althorp  ' 

—  the  first  Earl,  42-43  ;  Lady,  44  ; 
Lord,  52,  54,  115,  215 

Stanley,  Mr.  (Lord  Derby),  142,  166-171, 
174,  183,  194 

Stewart,  Chas.  (Marquis  of  London- 
derry), 22 

—  Dugald,  26 

Stockmar's    'Life'   (Baron),    182,    210; 

Queen  Victoria,  Melbourne,  and  208- 

212,  228 
Strafford,  Lord,  4,  222 
Sugar  Bill,  231 
Sumner,  John  Bird,  22 
Sussex,  Duke  of,  203 
Sutton,  Sir  C.  Manners,  187 
Swallow,  Major,  4 
Swift's  '  Journal  to  Stella,'  8-9 
'  Swing,'  144 
Sydenham,  Lord,  225 
Syrian  Question,  the.  225-226 


YOU 

Tamworth,  Sir  Robert  Peel  and,  186 
Tavistock,  Lord,  115,  214 
Tenterden,  Lord,  196 
Test  Act,  131,  180 
Thiers,  M.,  226 

Thirlwall,  Dr.  Connop,  219-220 
Thompson,    Mr.   Poulett  (Lord  Syden- 
ham), 225 
Tierney,  116 

Times,  Brougham  and  the,  183-184 
Tindal,  Justice,  198 
Tithe  Bill  in  Ireland,  170,  195,  200 
Tithe  Composition  Act,  123-124 
Torrens,       Mr.,     'Memoirs      of      Lord 
Melbourne,'  19,   27,  35,  39,  43,  45,  73- 
,75,  86,  93,  108-109,  I25,  219,  237 
Trades  Unions,  158-161 
Trimmer,  Mrs.,  29,  45 
Tullibardine,  Marquis  of,  22 
Turton.  Mr.,  224 

Vane,  Sir  Henry,  4 

Victoria,  accession  and  coronation  ol 
Queen,  202-216;  marriage  of,  226- 
229  ;  and  Lord  Melbourne,  233,  241 

Yilliers,  Geo.,  148 

Voluntary  Schools,  223 

Wade,  Rev.  A.,  161-162 

Wakefield,  Mr.,  224 

Wales,  the  Prince  of,  18-19,  36,  39,  5°, 
67-69,  73.    See  also  '  George  IV.' 

Walpole,  Mr.  S.,  and  the  National  Debt, 
92  ;  and  Lord  J.  Russell,  195  ;  and  the 
Queen,  214;  and  Lord  Clarendon,  231 

Ward,  Mr.,  171 

Ward,  Rev.  John,  6-7 

Wardle,  Colonel,  and  the  Duke  of  York, 
62 

Wellesley,  Lord,  103-104,  121-122,  124, 
129,   171-172 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  ii3-"5,  129-130, 
132-133,  137-140,  143,  145,  153,  I58, 
174,  183,  186,  192,  198,  204,  208,  214 

Westmoreland,  Lady,  77  ;  Lord,  115 

Whately,  Archbishop,  217-218 

Whigs,  Lamb  and  the,  53-54,  67-68 

Whi'tbread,  Mr.,  61,  65 

William  IV.,  139-140,  147-148,  i5°,  158  ; 
and  Melbourne,  174-176,  179-186,  191- 
193,  199  ;  and  Lord  Brougham,  177- 
179  ;  death  of,  202,  204  ;  and  Canada, 
224 

Wordsworth,  Dr.,  219 

York,  Duke  of,  and  Lady  Melbourne, 
17  ;  scandal  concerning,  62-65  ;  Prince 
of  Wales  and,  68-69  ;  and  the  Clergy 
Bill,  104-105  ;  death  of,  112;  funeral, 
119 

Young,  Mr.  Thos.,  151-152,  24°,  243 


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